A CORNER OF KENT. 



# 



Platl I 




n 



CD 




z^s^; 




A CORNER OF KENT ; 



OK, 



SOME ACCOUNT OF THE PAEISH OF 



ASH-NEXT-SANDWIOH, 



ITS HISTORICAL SITES AND EXISTING ANTiaUITXES. 



BY J. R. PLANCHfi, 

EOUGE CKOTX PURSUIVANT. 




Seal of Uohert de Septvans, temp. King John. 



LONDON: 
EOBEET HAEDWICKE, 192, PICCADILLY. 

1864. 



v.^' 



^ 



-■ -? 

o 



"v^ 



^ 






/ 



/^/■c 



TO 

THE MOST EEVEBEND 
CHARLES THOMAS LONGLBY, D.D. 

AUCHBISHOP or CANTERBURY, 

AND PRIMATE OF ALL ENGLAND, 

Cljese C0ntrikti0ns tobmh t^t pistorg of a ||aris|t 

iE PEINCIPAL POETION OF WHICH, FKOM THE TIME OF THE CONQUEST, 

FOKMED FOE SEVERAL CENTUEIES PART OF THE POSSESSIONS 

OF THE SEE OF CANTERBUSY, 

ARE 

{Miii\f l^txmmiavi) 
RESPECTFULLY INSCRIBED BY 

HIS GRACE'S 
MOST OBEDIENT AND VERY FAITHFUL SERVANT, 

J. R. PLANCHE. 



vr 



PREFACE. 



X AM not the first person by many who has found, 
-^ long before he finished his work, that he was 
writing a book he had no idea of writing when he 
began it. Having a ''vested interest" in the parish 
of Ash, in the shape of a daughter married to the 
incumbent of it, and mother of sundry urchins born 
in it, I one day, in an unguarded moment, took it in 
my head that a sort of digest of the account of the 
said parish, which I had read in the third volume of 
Mr. Hasted's '' History of Kent," brought down to 
the present day, with a few notes respecting costume 
and heraldry as illustrated by the fine series of 
monumental effigies and brasses in the church, a 
pretty woodcut or two, and possibly an attractive 
plate by way of frontispiece, might be acceptable to 
the . inhabitants and useful to the visitors of this 
out-of-the-way corner of the county ; and, as a shilling 
hand-book, if it did not quite repay the cost of 
publication, would not inflict any very ruinous 
pecuniary penalty on the compiler. In this com- 
placent state of mind I commenced my self-imposed 
task, as an agreeable occupation of my leisure hours 
during the following three or four months, and I am 



Vlll A CORNER OF KENT. 

now about to terminate it with a mortifying sense of 
its many deficiencies, after it has reached the extent 
of a goodly-sized octavo volume, and absorbed every 
moment of the time I could give to it, not for three 
months, but as many years. Whether I have made 
a mistake or not remains to be seen. If the public 
— I mean that small portion of it who take an 
interest in local and family history — do not lay down 
the book till they have finished it, they will not be 
surprised that I was unable sooner to lay down my 
pen. I do it now with regret, as I feel there are 
many important genealogical questions which have 
still to be satisfactorily answered; but I have at 
least pointed them out for the examination of abler 
antiquaries with more leisure at their disposal, and 
shall of course bear them myself in mind while 
occupied in similar researches professionally. It but 
remains for me now to perform the agreeable duty 
of returning my sincere thanks to the kind friends 
by whom I have been materially assisted in the 
progress of my work. To Mrs. Streatfield, of Chart's 
Edge, and family, for the liberality with which they 
threw open the doors of that cabinet containing the 
countless treasures collected with such care and at 
such expense by the indefatigable and enthusiastic 
antiquary, the late Mr. Thomas Streatfield, for his 
contemplated History of Kent, of which, alas ! the 
prospectus alone has been given to the public; a 
specimen which only deepens our regret at the non- 
fulfilment of its splendid promise. 



PREFACE. IX 

To Mr. Thomas Godfrey Eaussett, the descendant 
of another most able and zealous Kentish antiquary, 
for the inspection of the MS. church notes of his great 
grandfather, the Rev. Bryan Faussett, of Hepping- 
ton, whose extensive collection of Anglo-Saxon anti- 
quities, chiefly discovered by him in the parish of 
Ash, now forms part of the museum of Mr. Meyer, 
of Liverpool. 

My obligations to my friend and co-secretary of 
the British Archaeological Association, Mr. Edward 
Roberts, I have acknowledged in the chapter devoted 
specially to the church, respecting the architectural 
details of which he has furnished me with much 
valuable information; but I cannot thank him too 
often, and this catalogue of benefactors would not be 
complete without his name. 

To another architect and archaeologist whose friend- 
ship I have still longer enjoyed, and whose reputation 
is too well and too widely established to require a 
word beyond the mention of his name, Mr. Arthur 
Ashpitel, I am indebted for several important sug- 
gestions, for the drawings of the recently-discovered 
stone coffin and the plan of the church. 

While my brother officers at the College of Arms 
have one and all cordially encouraged and assisted 
me in my researches, the congenial taste and great 
experience of William Courthope, Somerset-Herald 
and Registrar, have proved invaluable to me. His 
intimate knowledge, not only of all the stores of 
curious unedited documents in tlie College itself, but 

h 



X A CORNER OF KENT. 

of our national records generally, guided me in the 
pursuit of information, and his own elaborate MS. 
pedigrees and genealogical collections illustrated 
many important points misrepresented or totally 
overlooked by previous writers of great authority. 

Lastly, but not less gratefully, I have to return 
my thanks to Miss Adelaide Godfrey, of Brooke 
House, Ash, for the spirited little drawings, the 
originals of the w^oodcuts which adorn the heads of 
the four first chapters; and to the Hon. George 
C. O. Bridgeman, for the reduction of the map of 
the parish. 

J. E, BLANCHE. 



College of Arms, 



CONTENTS. 

Introduction: xxi. 

CHAPTER I. 

BEFOUE THE CONQUEST. 

The Rutupiae shore alluded to by Lncan, 1. Kutupis, or 
Rutupinum, now Richborongh, 2. Etymological conjectures re- 
specting its name, ih. Description of the castle, 3. " St. Augustine's 
Cross," 6. The amphitheatre, 9. Site of the Roman town, 10. Notices 
of Rutupise by the Roman poets and historians, from the second to the 
fifth century, 14. Summary of the meagre materials for the history 
of Richborough, from the first invasion by Julius Csesar to the final 
departure of the Romans, 15. Celebrated personages who must 
have seen it in its glory, 16. The general features it probably 
presented at that period, 18. Arrival of the Jutes, 19. Uncer- 
tainty of all Anglo-Saxon history, 21. Reptacseaster and Ricsburg, 
Saxon names for Rutupis, 22. Eric or Esc, supposed son of Hengist, 
etymology of his name, 23. Probable derivation of the name of 
the parish of Ash, ib. Battle of Ebbsfleet, 24. Reigns of Eric, 
Octa, and Hermenric, ib. Guilton, or Guiltonfcown, celebrated 
pagan Saxon cemetery at, 25. Speculations concerning its name, ib. 
Local tradition of a golden idol there, 27. State of Ash in the sixth 
century, 28. Arrival of St. Augustine in the port of Richborough, ib. 
His reception by King Ethelbert, 30. Bertha, queen of Ethelbert ; a 
stone in the walls of Richborough casfcle called Queen Bertha's 
Head, 31. Restoration of paganism in Kent by Eadbald, son and 
successor of Ethelbert, A.D. 616, ib. Pious fraud of Laurentius, 
the successor of Augustine, ib. Destruction of heathen temples and 
idols throughout Kent by order of the Christian king, Ercombert, 32. 
Wasting of Kent by Cadwalla, King of the West Saxons, and ter- 
mination of its existence as a separate kingdom, A.D. 823, 33. 

h 2 



XU A CORNER OF KENT. 

Inroads and devastations of the Danes, ih. Utter destruction of 
Richborough by the Danes, A.D. 990-994, 34. Subsidence of the 
sea and accumulation of sand in the port of Richborough during the 
seventh and eighth centuries, and consequent increase of the im- 
portance of Sandwich, ih. The river Wantsum, 35. State of the 
parish at the commencement of the eleventh century, 36. Bernholt, 
a supposed landholder in Ash in the reign of Edward the Confessor, ih. 



CHAPTER II. 

DESCENT OE THE MANORS. 

Ash next Sandwich, supposed by Hasted to be the Ece in Eastry 
Hundred mentioned in Domesday, 37. - Osbert Fitz-Letard a tenant 
there under Odo, Bishop of Baieux, temp. William the Conqueror, ih. 
Enumeration of the manors, 39. Fleet, granted by Archbishop 
Lanfranc to Osborne, 1084, 40. A portion held by William 
D'Arques, ih. Errors and confusion in the accounts of him and his 
family, 41. Legal document of the eighth of Eichard I., illustrating 
the state of Richborough at that period, with the names of the 
landholders in 1197, 42. Tenure of that portion of the manor 
knowm as Gurson Fleet, by the De Yeres, Earls of Oxford, under 
the family of Sandwich, 48. The other moiety called Butler's 
Fleet, 49. Descent of Gurson Fleet to the reign of Henry YIL, 50. 
Description of Bichborough Castle, temj). Henry YIII., 51. Aliena- 
tion of the manor to Hammond, temj;). Elizabeth, 55 ; and descent to 
the present day, ih. Butler's Fleet passed from the family of 
Pincerna to that of Latimer of Corbie, 5Q. Name changed to 
liATiMER's Fleet, 57. Again to Nevil's Fleet, 5^. Descent to 
present day, 59. Goshall. Given by Archbishop Lanfranc to 
Amoldus, temp. William the Conqueror, 60. Banulf and Walter de 
Goshall holders of one and a half knight's fee there, temp. Henry III. 
61. Sir John Maunsel a tenant about the same period, ih. Re- 
markable notices of him in the Chronicle of Matthew Paris and 
contemporary records, %2. Descent of Goshall in the family of that 



CONTENTS. Xlll 

name from the reign of Edward I. to that of Richard II., Q5. Passed 
by a female heir to that of St. Nicholas, 67 ; and from them to 
Dynely, ib. Descent from 1484 to the present day, ih. Goldston 
granted with Goshall to Arnoldus by Archbishop Lanfranc, 68. 
William Fitz- Arnold a sub-tenant to Eobert de Goldstanton, fourth 
of John, A.D. 1202, ib. In the possession of the family of Goshall, 
temp. Edward I., Edward II. _, and Edward III., 69. Elmes, or Nell, 
an appendage to Goldston, held by the family of Leyghe, ib. Sir 
Boger de Leybourne Lord of the Manor in 1266, 70. Passed with 
his grandaughter, Juliana, to William de Clinton, Earl of Hunting- 
don, ib. Descent from Clinton to Clitherow and Norris, sold to 
John Lord Clinton, forfeited to the Crown by the attainder of 
Thomas Cromwell, Earl of Essex; granted by Henry YIII. to 
Vincent Engham, Esq. ; descent to the present day, 72. Overland. 
No record of, previous to the reign of Henry III., 74. Held then 
by the family of Criol under the Archbishop of Canterbury by grant 
of Henry III. to Bertram de Criol, ib. Passed to the family of 
Leybourne, temp. Edward I., ib. Juliana de Leybourne, the Infanta 
of Kent ; correction of errors concerning her, 75; Overland forfeited 
to the Crown by attainder of Sir Simon de Burley, K.G., 1387, and 
granted to the Priory of Canons alias Chiltern Langley, 77. Descent 
from the reign of Henry YIIL to the present day, ib. Molland. 
Held by a family of that name, teinp. Henry III., 78. Passed to 
that of Sandwich before the reign of Edward III., 79. Carried by 
Anne, daughter and heir of Nicholas de Sandwich, to her husband, 
John Septvans, ib. Passed by a female heir of Septvans alias Har- 
fleet to John St. Ledger of Doneraile, Esq., 82. Descent from 1710 
to present day, ib. Chilton, a manor in a borough of the same 
name, 83. A Boger de Chilton living fourteenth Henry III., ib. 
William de Chilton died seized of the manor thirty-first of Edward L, 
85 ; and William de Baude, fourth of Edward III., ib. Passed to 
Thomas de Walton, and from him to Sir William de Septvans, 86. 
Sold by John St. Ledger to Dr. George Thorpe, Prebendary of Can- 
terbury, 1675, ib. Bequeathed by him in 1716 to the Master and 
Fellows of Emmanuel College, Cambridge, the present possessors, ib. 
Names of fields at Chilton in 1286, ib. Chequer, anciently Estche- 
quer, probably so called from the Essex family De Scaccario^ or 
Exchequer, ib. Connection of that fandly with- those of Peyforer 



XIV A CORNER OF KENT. 

and Sandwich, 87. Manor carried by Anne de Sandwich to the 
family of Septvans, alias Harflete, alias Atchequer, ih. In the 
families of Alday and Monins, tem20. Henry YII. — Edward YL, 88. 
Eepurchased by Harfleet, ih. Sold in 1695 by Jobn St. Ledger to 
the Kev. George Thorpe, Prebend of Canterbury, and bequeathed 
by him to Emmanuel College, together with the manor of Chilton, 
1716, 89. Hills Court, from the family of Helles, or Hills, of 
Darent, county Kent, ih. Descent of that family from Agnes, 
sister of St. Thomas a Becket, ih. Passed through the families of 
Wroth and Slaughter to Harfleet, 91. Sold by Henry Harfleet to 
Edward Peke, of Sandwich, tem^y. Charles I., ih. Sometimes called 
''the Manor of Hills Church Gate," ih. Descent from 1701 to 
present day, 92. Twitham Hills. Identity of the families of Hills 
and Twitham, ih. Inquisitions respecting the lands of Alan, son of 
Theobald de Twitham, and discrepancies in Philipot and his followers 
respecting Maud de Twitham, 93. In the family of Septvans temp. 
Richard II. — Edward lY., 94. Descent through Wroth, Slaughter, 
and Harfleet to the present day, ih. Levericks. Uncertainty as to 
the origin of the name, ih. Notices of the family of Leverick, of 
Sandwich, from 1281 to 1510, 95. Purchased by Peke, of Sandwich, 
tern]). Henry YII., 97. Descent to the present day, ih. Wedding- 
ton. First found in the possession of the family of Hougham, in the 
thirteenth century ; supposed collateral descendants of the Avranches, 
Lords of Folkestone, 99. Match with Sanders of Norborne, 100. 
Doubts respecting the arms supposed to be of Sanders, 101. Curious 
MS. memorandum of Francis Hougham in 1717, 102. Wingham 
Barton. Part of the ancient possessions of the see of Canterbury, 103. 
Tithe of the manor given to the College of Wingham by Archbishop 
Peckham in 1286 j whence the name, ih. Family of Barton or 
Berton, ancestors of Finneux and Diggs, ih. Property passed from 
the see of Canterbury to the Crown, temp. Henry YIII., — the manor 
house given by Edward YI. to Sir Anthony St. Ledger ; the manor 
itself granted by Queen Elizabeth to Sir Roger Man wood, 104. 
Descent from Sir Peter Man wood, temp. James L, to present day, ih. 



CONTENTS. XV 



CHAPTER III. 

PEHAMBULATION OE THE PARISH. 

Extent, boundary, and divisions of the parish, 106. Church of 
Ash, formerly Chapel of Ease to Wingham, 107. Made a parish 
church and given to Wingham College by Archbishop Peckham in 
1286, 108. Rectory and advowson in the King's hands, temp> 
Edward YI., ih. A separate vicarage as early as 1286 ; esteemed a 
perpetual curacy at the time of the suppression, and the advowson 
granted by Queen Mary to the Archbishop of Canterbury and his 
successors, 109. Passed into the hands of the Ecclesiastical Com- 
missioners, 1836, ih. Present lessees of the great tithes, ih. Pod- 
ding, 110. Carved panelling commemorating the family of Solly, 
A.D. 1662, 112. View from the hill above Pedding, 113. Guilton- 
town and Guilton Parsonage, ih. The School Farm, Guilton Farm, and 
Mill, 115. Site of the celebrated Anglo-Saxon Cemetery, ih. Excava- 
tions there by the Rev. Bryan Faussett, the Rev. James Douglas, 
Mr. Rolfe, Mr. Ingram Godfrey, and the Rev. H. S. Mackarness, 

116. Chequer Lane — Manor-houses of Molland and Chequer Court, 

117. Arms of the Harfleets in the windows at Molland, 118. Nell, 
anciently Elmes ; perhaps so called from the forest of elms formerly 
existing there, 121. The village of Ash or Ash Street, 122. The 
Chequer Inn, 123. The Yicarage, ih. The Infant School, ih. The 
Lion Inn, 124. The Ship Inn, 125. Ash Mill, ih. The Cartwright 
Schools, 126. The Moat Farm, ib. Notices of the families of 
Stoughton and Proude, ih. John Proude's bequest of a house, 127. 
Mount Ephraim and " Lovekey Street," 129. New Street, ih. 
Road to Sandwich ; old workhouse, now a brewery, ih. Ash-den, 
Hill's Court, Levericks, CoUarmaker's Hole, 130. "The Causeway," 
131. Associations connected with it, 131-134. Modern alterations, 
134. East Street, Goshall Fleet, Goshall, 135. Brooke House, 136. 
John Godfrey, Esq., J.P., "the poor man's friend," 137. Twitham 
Hill, Lowton, Cooper Street, Fleet, ih. Sham fight at Stonor before 
Queen Elizabeth, September 1st, 1572, 138. Richborough Castle 
and Farm, 139. Gustou, ih. Providence Cottage, Potts Farm, 
Sparrow Castle, Sandhills, Upper and Lower GoJdstone, Cop Street, 



XVI A CORNEH OE KENT. 

140. Crackstakes, ib., note. Warehorn, Paramour Street, 141. 
"Ware, Bereling Street, 142. Westmarsh, Houghton, Wingham 
Barton, Housden or XJpliousen, Sherewater, 143. Hoden, 144. 
Overland, Nash, 145. Review of the general features of the parish 
and value of the land, celebrity of its market-gardens, its climate, and 
salubrity, 147. Disappearance , of ancient edifices, 148. Singular 
proximity of the old manor houses, 150. Ash apparently undisturbed 
by the civil wars and popular tumults of the fourteenth, fifteenth, 
sixteenth, and seventeenth centuries, 151. Notices of the Cess 
Books and other parish accounts, 152. Verbatim copy of the 
Churchwardens' accounts for 1634, 153. Extracts from the accounts 
for various years from 1635 to 1765, 161-172. Notices of the 
registers of baptisms, marriages, and burials, commencing first of 
Elizabeth, 1558, 172. Alphabetical list of the principal remarkable 
names in them, 173. License for a market and annual fair at Ash 
granted to William Lord Latimer by Edward III. ; the curfew and 
five o'clock bell ; number of communicants in 1588-1640 ; increase of 
births from 1620 to 1820 j population from 1801 to the last census, 
1861, 174. 



CHAPTEB> lY. 

THE CHURCH AND ITS MONUMENTS. 

Situation of the church, 175. Probability of an earlier church 
having existed on the same site, 176. No portion of the present 
anterior to the close of the twelfth century, ib. General form of 
the church, arrangement and details, 177. Discovery of a stone 
coffin in 1863, 181, note. Chantry of "John Stevynj" of "the 
Upper Hall," and of "Our Blessed Lady," 183. Shields of arms and 
figures originally in the windows of Ash church, 186. Miss Friend's 
memorial window, 191. The high chancel thoroughly repaired by 
the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, 1861, 192. The tower and bel- 
fry, 193. The font, 194. Extracts from the parish accounts of 
payments for the repairs of the church, bells, churchyard-gates, 
walls, &c., from 1635 to 1791, 195. Lists of benefactors, 198. The 



CONTENTS. XVll 

inonuments : — Sir John de Goshall, 203 j effigy of a female of the 
thirteenth century, 204 ; Sir John Leverick, 205 ; brasses of Richard 
Clitherow and his wife, daughter of Sir John Oldcastle, 207 j brass of 
Jane Keriel, 208 j presumed gravestone of Koger Clitherow, 210; 
mural tablets to the memory of Elizabeth and Jervas Cartwright, 
and of Eleanor and Anne Cartwright, 212 ; Latin epitaph of Gervase 
Cartwright, 213 j mural tablet, — Henry and Susanna Roberts and 
their children, and Eleanor, sister of Henry, 214; Edward, Samuel, and 
Sarah Solly, 215 ; Thomas Coleman^ ib. ; William and Frances Brett 
and family, ib. ; John Godfrey and his daughter Augusta, 216 j Arthur 
William Godfrey, 217 ; Benjamin and Frances Longley, ib. ; Joseph 
Smith, 218; effigies of John Septvans and Katherine, his wife, ib. ; 
brass of Christopher Harfleet and Mercy his wife, 224 ; brass of Walter 
Harfleet and Jane his wife, 227 ; mural monument of Sir Thomas 
Harfleet and Bennet his wife, 229 ; mural monument of Christopher 
Toldervey and Jane his wife, 230 ; gravestone of Thomas Peke, 231 ; 
of Susanna Peke, 232 ; of Elizabeth Lady Peke, ib. ; of Thomas, son 
of Sir Edward Peke, 233 ; singular epitaph of John Brooke, ib. ; 
sculptured stone with crest, supposed of the family of Gimber, 234 ; 
Thomas Singleton, M.D., 236 ; Mrs. Margaret Masters, ib. ; John 
Masters, 237 ; mural tablet, Whittingham Wood, ib. ; mural tablet, 
Vincent St. Nicholas, 238 ; gravestone, Samuel St. Nicholas, ib. ; 
gravestone, Vincent St. Nicholas, 239 ; Thomas St. Nicholas, ib. ; 
. . . . St. Nicholas, 240 ; mural monument, Richard Hougham, 
of Weddington, and family, 241 ; brass to Michael and Richard 
Hougham, 242 ; brass of Wyllm . . s and Anys his wife, 243 ; 
mural monument, Henry Lowman and Mary his wife ; Colonel Kien 
and Jane his wife, 244 ; inscriptions on their coffin plates, ib., note ; 
Evert George Cousemaker, ib. ; tablets to the family of Tomlin, 245 ; 
Dorothea St. Nicholas, 246 ; Lieutenant Henry Dawson, R.N., ib. ; 
Captain Westbeach, R.N., 247; John Fuller, of Molland, and 
family, ib. ; Richard Horsman Solly, ib. ; C. R. Streatfield Nixon, ib. 
Gravestones : — Mary Bax, 248 ; Mary Curling, Mary Ferrier, and 
Ann Roberts ; Martha Westbeach, Benjamin and Elizabeth Rowe, of 
Chequer, and family ; John Bushell, ib. Tombstones in the church- 
yard, 249. List of incumbents, 250-52. Notices of the chapels of 
Overland and Fleet, 253. 



XVIU A CORNEH OF KENT. 



CHAPTEE Y. 

NOTES AND QUERIES, GENEALOaiCAL AND HERALDIC. 

Prefatory observations, 254. Family of Arques, 256. Avranches, 
260. Yere and Bolbec, 264. Crevecoeur, 286. Auberville, 290. 
Criol, or Keriel, 291. Sandwicb, 296. Septvans alias HarHeet, 307. 
Goshall, 350. St. Nicholas, 361. Leverick, 375. Paramour, 379. 
Hougham, 390. Solly, 401. Postscript, 407. 



EEEATA. 

Page 73, line 25, /or "Nicholas Toke, of Goddington, Esq.," read 

" the Keverend Nicholas Toke of Godington." 

Page 78, line 22, /or "the forty-fifth," read " the fifty-fifth." 
Page 88, line 9, for " Masters and Wardens," read " Masters and 

Fellows." 



DESCEIPTION OP ILLUSTRATIONS, 

AND DIRECTIONS TO BINDER. 



Plate 1. — View of Ash Street to face Title 

Woodcut. — Seal of Sir Robert de Septvans, ante 9th of King John, attached to 
a deed whereby ** Robertus de Sevanz, filius Roberti de Sevanz/' grants 
to St. Gregory's Priory, Canterbury, for the sum of one mark, half an acre of 
land in Huggefeld (said in dorso to be Hothfield), from the " Evidences of 
Cumbewell Abbey," in the College of Arms on Title-page 

Woodcut. — Part of the Ruins of Eichborough Castle Page 1 

Plate 2. — Specimens of Anglo-Saxon Antiquities discovered at Guilton : — Fig. 1, 
Fibula ; fig. 2, Sword-hilt (reduced) ; fig. 3, Buckle ; fig. 4, Chain and por- 
tion of Horse's Bit, with Roman Coin attached to it . . . . . . to face Page 25 

Woodcut. — Coffer of the Fifteenth Century, in the Vestry of St. Nicholas 
Church, Ash , Page 37 

Woodcut. — View of Ash from Mount Ephraim Page 106 

Plate 3. — Map of the Parish of Ash _ to face Page 110 

Plate 4. — Ash Church from the South-west to face Page 175 

Woodcut. — Piece of Carved Oak, a portion of the old Stalls, dug up in the 
Chancel in 1861 Page 175 

Plate 5. — Plan of St. Nicholas Church, Ash _ to face Page 177 

A. The Nave ; B. Chancel of Our Lady ; C. Central Tower ; D. North Tran- 
sept, or St. Thomas's Chapel ; E. South Transept ; F. Probable Site of 
early English Tower, as evidenced by thicker walls, &c. ; G. St. Nicholas, 
or Molland Chancel ; H. Porch ; /. Stairs to Parvise, now a Vestry ; 
a, 1). Respond piece in South Wall ; c. Column built into Wall, from which 
Arches spring right and left ; d, e. Probable length of Anglo-Norman 
Church ; f, g, Ragstone Column and Respond ; h, i. Foundation of old 
Wall. 
No. 1. Effigy of Sir John Goshall ; 2. Effigy of a Lady ; 3. Effigy of Sir 
John Leverick ; 4. Effigies of John Septvans, Esq., and Wife ; 5. Brasses of 
Richard Clitherow and Lady ; 6. Brass of Jane Keriel ; 7. Brasses of Chris- 
topher Harfleet and Wife ; 8. Brasses of Walter Harfleet and Wife ; 
9. Brass of William (Leus ?) and Anys his wife ; 10. Burial-place of the family 
of St. Nicholas ; 11. Spot where the Stone Coffin was found ; 12. Piscina ; 
13. Aumbry. 

Plate 6. — View from South Transept, looking through the High Chancel into the 
Molland Chancel , to face Page 185 

Plate 7.— Fig. 1. Effigy of Sir John Goshall ; 2. Effigy of a Lady ; 3. Capital of 
Column in the Nave ; 4. Fragment of a Monumental Cross, dug up in 
Churchyard ; 5. Border of Fresco in North Transept ; 6. Lid of Stone 
Coffin discovered in North Transept in December, 1863 ; 7. Portion of 
the Septvans' Seat, discovered 186-1 ; 8. Capital of a Column dug up in 
Chancel ^ to face Page 204 



XX A COHNER OF KENT. 

Plate 8. — Effigy of Sir John Leverick to face Page 206 

Plate 9. — 1. Gravestone and Keraains of Brass of Eicliard Clitherow and his 
Wife ; 2. Brass of Jane Keriel to face Page 207 

Plate 10. — Effigies of John Septvans, Esq., temj^. Henry VI., and his wife 
Katharine (?) to face Page 218 

Plate 11. — 1. Brasses of Christopher Septvans, alias Harfleet, and Wife ; 
2. Brasses of Walter Harfleet and Wife ; 3. Brass of William (Leus ?) and 
Anys his wife , . ....._ 

Plate 12, — 1. Monument of Sir Thomas Harfleet and Wife ; 2. Monument of 
Christopher Toldervy and Wife - to face Page 229 

Woodcut. — Crest of Sir William de Septvans, from a drawing by Philipot, in 
the College of Arms, from the brass formerly in Canterbury Cathedral, and 
Shield of Arms of St. Nicholas, from a MS. in the College of Arms, marked, 
Vincent, 141 Page 254 

Plate 13. — Figs. 1, 2, 3, 4. Personages represented in the old Windows of Ash 
Church, from drawings copied by Mr. Hasted from the '' Church Notes " of 
Peter le Neve in 1613 {vide page 189) ; figs. 5, 6, John St. Nicholas and his 
wife, Margaret de Campania, formerly in a Window of Ash Church, from 
drawings by Philipot, College of Arms; 7. Seal of William de Auberville ; 
8. Arms of Walter de Goshall, from the copy of a Poll of the time of 
Edward I., College of Arms — Vincent, 164 ; 9. Seal of Margret de Goshall, 
Harleian Charters, British Museum .- to face Page 254 



INTEODUCTION. 



nPHE parish of Ash-next-Sandwich, notwithstand- 
^ ing that it can boast but of one village of any 
importance, that to which it gives, or from which it 
takes its name, — has probably as great claims upon 
the respect and interest of Englishmen as any other 
in the kingdom. Within its boundaries the Gauls 
found their most commodious haven; the Eomans 
erected their most famous fortalice ; the pagan Jute 
established his dominion ; the holy Augustine planted 
the cross. Many of the most celebrated names in 
the roll of our Norman ancestors are connected with 
its manorial records, and the greatest sovereigns of 
this country for many centuries made its now almost 
deserted road the highway to conquest, returned by 
it in triumph, or displayed on it the pageantry of 
a peaceful progress. 

These distinctions have frequently been* claimed 
for the county in which it is situate ; but, while we 
freely accord to Kent all the honour that is fairly its 
due, as '' the grand scene of the earliest recorded of the 
most important events in the annals of our country," 
we cannot allow the fact to be forgotten that it was 



XXll A CORNER OF KENT. 

within the boundaries of the present parish of Ash 
that the greater number actually occurred. 

The stranger who may now ascend the venerable 
tower of its church and gaze on the wide and pleasant 
panorama presented to him from its summit, will see 
no remarkable object to excite his curiosity. The 
long grey crumbling walls of E^ichborough may easily 
escape his notice, as his eye strays over them to the 
white cliffs of Eamsgate, and blue waters of Pegwell 
Bay, and then, following to the right the straight line 
of marsh, rests upon the red roofs and dusky towers 
of the little old-fashioned town of Sandwich. 

Wo rock-throned Pharos tells from afar of Eoman 
domination, — no frowning battlements of feudal 
power, — no ivy-mantled arch of monastic grandeur ; 
— all appears modern, peaceful, pastoral, and unro- 
mantic. On the one hand, marsh and meadow dotted 
with sheep ; on the other, a smiling valley, bounded 
by a range of low wood-crowned hills, — here and 
there a distant spire, a cluster of farm-buildings, 
a mill, or an oasthouse. 

Yet those meadows have swarmed with Csesarean 
soldiery ; over what is now a marsh have sailed the 
Roman galleys and the Saxon keels. Those hills 
have witnessed the worship of Woden ; amongst the 
trees of one of them nestles a village still bearing 
his name ; — that mill marks the site of a vast pagan 
cemetery; those farms are the remains of manor- 
houses, whose knightly owners lent lustre to the roll 
of English chivalry. The sculptured effigies of some 



INTRODTJCTION. XXlll 

yet moulder on their monuments in the chancel 
beneath. 

Puffs of white smoke point out the progress of the 
up-train from Sandwich rattling over a railway which 
sweeps by the amphitheatre and round the castrum 
of Rutupis; an omnibus is rolling along the road 
by which Eichard Coeur-de-Lion passed on foot to 
Canterbury, and Edward the Black Prince conducted 
a captive King of Prance to London. 




A CORNER OF KENT. 



CHAPTER I. 



BEFORE THE CONQUEST. 



•^ Ant vaga cum Thetis Eutupinaque lifcora fervent, 
Unda Caledonios, fallit turbata Britannos." — Lucan. 

"So 'Northern Britons never hear the roar 
Of seas that break on the far Cantian shore." — Bowe. 

rpHE history of the parish of Ash may be said to 
J- commence with the above allusion by Lucan, in 
his '' Pharsalia," lib. vi., to the Eutupine shore: the 
coast of Kent, or at least that corner of it north- 
east of Sandwich, having received that appellation 
apparently from the Portus Eutupensis, the name 
given by the Eomans to the estuary which then 
separated the Isle of Thanet from the mainland. 



2 A CORNER OP KENT. 

At each end of this estuary was a fort which 
protected a haven, the one called E^egnlbium, now 
Reculver; and the other Rutupis or Rutupinnm, 
now Richborough. Hence, it is presumed, the plural 
name E;utupi8e.^ The etymology of this name is still 
a vexed question. Camden suggests its derivation 
from the British words rhyd'tufeth, vadum sahulo- 
sum, or sandy flats or fords. t Battely, from rupes, a 
rock; or from the it^i^^m, a people of Gaul ; andMale- 
hranche, from ridhen, interpreted a " rotten shore." 
But Pliny speaks of a Portus Butubis in Africa.^ 
jElian mentions a Sicilian city named Butupi, and 
the river Baya, which falls into the Gulf of Genoa 
above Yintimillia, is in the ancient maps of Liguria 
set down as the Butuba. Ordericus Yitalis also tells 
us of a powerful chief, called Butubus, whose castle, 
on the banks of the Seine, was besieged and taken by 
Julius Caesar, and named by him, after its former 
owner, Butubi Portus. These facts disincline us, 
therefore, to be satisfied with any of the above sug- 
gestions. A writer of the Augustine age, whose works 
have perished, appears to have used the word rutuba 
to express turbulence, tumult, or disorder. 

" Ergo turn Rorase parce pureque prudenteis 
Yixere in patria, nunc sumus in rutuha'"' — Yarro. 

And, as it has been already observed by Mr. Hasted, 

* The name of it is variously spelt by different authors. We find 
"Rutiipise m-bem," "Portus Rutupensis," "Eitupias," and "Ritupis 
portum," "Ritupise statio," "Rhutubi," and "Ruthubi portum," &c. 

t Mag. Brit. % Nat, Hist. v. 15. 



BEFORE THE CONQUEST. 3 

that in old glossaries, rutuhari is interpreted *' the 
raging of the sea," and rutuha^ the "perturbation of 
the waters," we agree with him in believing that the 
stormy coast of Britain obtained from the Romans 
the appellation of the Hutupine shore in the sense of 
the ancient word which Nonius has preserved to us.* 
The calm and safe harbour, "stationem ex adverso 
tranquillam,"t offered to their fleets by the estuary, 
might still be called "Portum E;utupensem," and 
the city that rose beside it '* Urbem Rutupise," or 
jointly, as by Orosius, *' Rhutubi Portum et Civi- 
tatem." In the absence, however, of all conclusive 
evidence, we must leave our readers to make their 
own election between the Rhyd-tufeth of the Belgic 
Britons and the Eutubus of the Romans and Cis- 
alpine Gauls, the two most probable conjectures. 
Under whatever name the locality might have 
been known to the original colonists, the trans- 
mutation to which all foreign words were sub- 
jected by the Romans has too effectually destroyed 
in this, as in so many instances, the hope of the 
etymologist. 

The high ground upon Avhich the ruins of the 
castrum or citadel of Rutupis still exist was at the 
time of its construction completely surrounded by 
water. Whether it has been originally the site of a 

* "E/utuba, 96, f. — Rutubam Yett. turbationem appellat Non. ex 
Yar. a Ruo, a tumult, trouble, or disorder." — (Littleton, Latin Diet. 
London, 1684.) 

t Ammianus Marcellinus. 

B 2 



4 A CORNER OF KENT. 

British fort cannot now be ascertained ; but that the 
sea ran up to it, around it, and far past it, forming a 
secure haven for the peaceful merchant, or an inviting 
entrance to the hostile invader, is a recorded fact, 
which the features of the country at the present day 
sufficiently corroborate. 

Mr. Hasted, writing at the close of the last century, 
says, *^ It is at this time cut off from Gurson (Gust on) 
by a narrow slip of the marsh, across which even now 
in wet times the water flows in so much, that people 
passing along the road from Ash to Hichborough are 
obliged to ford through it. It is an entire parcel of 
land by itself, of its own construction, being a mile 
and a quarter in length and three-quarters of a mile 
in the widest part.""*' 

The military genius of the Eomans was not slow 
to perceive the strategic importance of this point, 
or to exert its utmost skill in taking advantage of it. 
There does not appear any satisfactory authority for 
the exact date of the erection of the castrum. The 
Sandwich MS., printed by Mr. Boys,t professedly 
compiled from ancient records and chronicles, says, 
" The ancient castle of Hutupi, now Bichborrow, was 
begun to be built by Vespatian, being the generall of 
the Romans in Brittaine, A.D. 55, and was perfected 
by Severus the emperor ; " but as no authority is 
quoted for this assertion, we can do no more than 



* Hist, of Kent, vol. iii. p. 686, note. 

t Collections for the History of Sandwich. 



BEFORE THE CONQUEST. 5 

admit the possibility of the circumstance.* By who- 
ever built, it was in form nearly square, walled on 
three sides, but, like Oaistor in Norfolk, and other 
similarly situated Eoman fortresses, open on the 
fourth, which was nearest the water, t Of the north 
wall, according to the measurement of the most 
recent investigators of this ancient remain, | nearly 
450 feet are still standing, and rather more than half 
that quantity of the south wall. The western wall has 
suffered the most injury, but when perfect, measured 
460 feet.§ At the north-east corner are the ruins 
of a return wall, which seems to have run down 
under the cliff, or rather bank; and from observa- 
tions made at the foot, there is reason for believing 
there was a landing-place on the beach, and that a 
sloping road behind the wall led up into the citadel. 
Eound towers of solid masonry protected the angles 
of the castle, and the sides were strengthened by 
square towers, solid to the height of nearly eighty 
feet from the foundation, the walls themselves being 

* Kilburne attributes its erection to the British chief popularly 
known as Arviragus, the opponent of Vespasian ; but the work is 
undoubtedly Roman. The Britons may very possibly have fortified 
the hill after their own fashion j but no evidence remains of 
the fact. 

t Writers unaware of this peculiarity have represented the fourth 
side as fallen. 

J "Wanderings of an Antiquary," by Thomas Wright, F.S.A. 
"Antiquities of Eichborough," by Charles Roach Smith, F.S.A. 

§ Mr. Fussell in his "Journey round the Coast of Kent," gives the 
dimensions as existing as that time, as 500 feet on the north side, 
540 on the south, and iSi on the west. 



6 A CORNER OF KENT. 

from twenty-five to thirty feet high, and twelve feet 
in thickness. A well-protected postern gateway 
exists on the north-east side, designated in one of 
the j)lates of Battely's ''Antiquitates Entupinse " as 
the Decuman Gate, which latter, so called because 
it was wide enough to allow the passage of ten men 
abreast, is assumed by others to have been nearly in 
the middle of the western wall, but its precise posi- 
tion is no longer discernible.* 

Within the area, and much nearer to the bank than 
to the western wall, is what appears to have been the 
foundation of some building, which, from its cruci- 
form shape, is now popularly known by the name of 
St. Augustine's Cross. Camden, however, seems to 
imply that in his day this name was not given par- 
ticularly to this object. He says, ''Wherever the 
streets have run the corn grows thin, which the 
common people call St. Austin's Cross ; " t but he 
is speaking of the fields whereon he supposes the 
city stood, and not of the area within the walls of 
the castrum. This is worthy of observation, as he 
does not mention ''the cross" we are describing at 
all, though recent writers have from the above 
passage assumed that he has done so, and the 
inference therefore is, that it was not visible in 
Elizabeth's time, and that the appellation of " St. 

* Dr. Battely lias evidently founded his opinion on the description 
of Yitruvius, who, in speaking of the Decuman Gate, uses the words, 
" Egressus patet non rectus sed ohliquus.'' — (Architect. 1. 5.) 

t Mag. Brit, page 298, edit. 1600. 



BEPOUE THE CONQUEST. 7 

Austin's Cross " has been transferred to it at a much 
later period. Somner, who appears to have written 
his '* Treatise of the Eoman Ports and Ports of Kent" 
(published in 1693) during the reign of Charles IL, 
seems to be the first who mentions it. The words 
" Wherever (ubicunque) the streets have run" dis- 
tinctly prove, that in Camden's day there were several 
crosses indicated by the partial growth of the corn, 
and not one large mass of solid work, an object too 
remarkable to have escaped observation. 

In excavating round this structure, Mr. Boys 
discovered that it stood on a platform, five feet thick, 
104 feet long, and nearly 145 feet wide, formed of a 
composition of boulders and coarse mortar, on which 
was laid a smooth floor of mortar six inches thick. 
The cross itself, measuring from north to south forty- 
two feet by thirty-four, and from east to west nearly 
thirty feet by eight, had been faced with square 
stones, some of which remained in sitic.^ 

In 1822 a subterranean building was discovered 
beneath the platform, which was supposed to contain 
chambers used as store-rooms for the garrison, a 
granary or an arsenal; but no indications of any 
entrance could be traced, either at that time or as 
late as 1843, when the late Mr. Eolfe, of Sandwich, 
made a vigorous but unsuccessful attempt to pene- 
trate the compact masonry. 

Mr. Eoach Smith, in his "Antiquities of E/ich- 

* Collecti-jii>5. 



8 A CORNER OP KENT. 

borough/' says, '' The popular notion that the cruci- 
form foundation on the platform is the base of a cross 
need scarcely be refuted, and the opinion that it may 
have supported a pharos is equally untenable.'* We 
must beg, however, to differ with him on this latter 
point. The sandy nature of the soil would render 
exactly such a foundation imperatively necessary to 
the safety of a tower of the height and magnitude 
requisite for such a purpose, and the cruciform shape 
which the surface now presents might have arisen 
from lateral buttresses projecting from its base. 
That there was some such building we cannot doubt ; 
and if not there, in what other part of the area 
would it be likely to have existed ? This theory by no 
means prevents us from admitting the probability that 
vaults may yet be discovered beneath the platform. 
'' That the subterranean building was constructed for 
some extraordinary and important purpose," observes 
Mr. Smith, '*is obvious from the fact that nothing 
analogous to it has been discovered at any of the 
Roman stations in this country, or, as far as can be 
ascertained, on the Continent." It is surely as obvious 
that the peculiar nature of the soil required a founda- 
tion unlike any needed where the Pharos was built 
on a rock or other solid substratum. Is there any 
other instance in England or on the Continent of an 
important Homan fortress erected actually on a sand- 
bank ? 

On the highest part of the hill, about 460 yards 
from the south-west angle of the castrum, are the 



BErORE THE CONQUEST. 9 

remains of an amphitheatre, first noticed, it would 
appear, by the Eev. Mr. Gostling, in his '' Walk about 
Canterbury,"* and which Dr. Stukely calls a '^ cas- 
trensian amphitheatre." 

In 1849, Mr. Eolfe and Mr. Eoach Smith ascer- 
tained this work to have been a regular elliptical 
building resembling in miniature the great amphi- 
theatres of the Continent. Coins were found by them 
ranging from the reign of Domitian to that of Arcadius, 
who died A.D. 408, with a large number of small coins 
called minimi, which are believed to belong to the 
period when the Eoman towns were left to their own 
government, so that this amphitheatre must have been 
in use down to the latest period of the Roman rule 
in Britain, if not for an age or two after their depar- 
ture. We regret to add that agricultural interests 
have necessitated the filling up again of this little 
amphitheatre, the situation of which, so near to the 
old castle, rendered its preservation still more desir- 

* " We visited these venerable ruins," says the Reverend traveller, 
" with a gentleman of Sandwich, who from the old castle conducted 
us to some banks hard by, which he called the mounts ; where are 
found very plain remains of this work, an amphitheatre not mentioned 
by any Kentish writer that I know of, unless the little camp, as Dr. 
Harris calls it (p. 379 of his History), to the south-west of the castle 
be so, containing, as he guesses, not above an acre of ground, having 
a mount at each corner, though the form is oval or circular, and 

some remains of an entrance on each side The sloping 

bank, lowered by long cultivation, measures in circumference about 
220 yards, and its present height from the arena or centre of the 
excavation is in the different parts from seven to nearly twelve 
feet." 



10 A CORNER OF KENT. 

able. Such a circumstance could not have occurred 
in France or Germany. The two or three acres of 
land would have been purchased by Government and 
the amphitheatre, like that at Treves, been carefully 
preserved for the public. 

No satisfactory conclusion has yet been come to 
respecting the site of the E^oman town, or of the 
cemetery connected with it ; but the former is sup- 
posed to have been situated on the sloping ground 
to the south and west of the citadel.* Ptolemy the 
geographer, who lived in the first half of the 
second century of the Christian era, names Kutupise 
as one of the three towns of the Cantii, the other 
two being Londinium (London) and Durovernum 
(Canterbury), while in the Itinerary of Antoninus 
the port or haven alone is mentioned, '' Ad portum 
Kitupis." 

We find, in the work attributed to E^ichard of 
Cirencester, the expression '' Ehutupis Colonia ;" and 
not only in his description of the ancient state of 
Britain does he place Eutupis among the nine colonial 
cities^ but, under the head of Cantium, asserts that it 
became the Metropolis of the Province , that its haven 
was the rendezvous of the Roman fleet which com- 
manded the North Sea, and that its city was of such 
celebrity that it gave the name of Eutupine to the 
neighbouring shore. Mr. Roach Smith demurs to 
this, and considers that Richard was led into this 

* Camden. 



BErOEE THE CONQUEST. 11 

mistake by Ptolemy and Orosius, and by tlie term 
Colonice applied to Hutupis in the Iter above men- 
tioned. He observes that ^'we have no evidence 
in existing remains or in recorded discoveries to 
warrant our placing Kutupise in the category vrith 
Londininm, Camulodunum, and such-like places, 
which were clearly towns or cities of great extent, 
the limits of most of which may still be traced, often 
serving as the municipal boundary down to the 
present time."* 

Without presuming to dispute the opinion of so 
competent an authority as Mr. Smith, or relying on 
the statements of B^ichard, who has been suspected 
of being no authority at all, we may, I think, 
suspend our judgment until further discoveries 
enable us to fix the site of the Eoman city, which 
Twine places at Dover, and Boys is anxious to 
prove was at Canterbury!! It is possible remains 
may yet be found in the neighbourhood of the 
little hamlet of Bichborough, as well as in the 
direction of Sandwich, tending to corroborate the as- 
sertion of Ptolemy, that it was one of the three cities 
of Kent, and originally, perhaps, the most important 
from situation, though ultimately outgrown and sur- 
passed by Londinium and Durovernum, with which 
it is classed by him. It may not have been a walled 
town, the castrum and the sea being considered 
sufficient protection. Mr. Smith himself, in another 

* Antiquities of Kichborough. t Collections. 



12 A CORNER OP KENT. 

work,* admits that the whole neighbourhood, includ- 
ing Sandwich, is proved by sepulchral remains conti- 
nually discovered to have been well populated in the 
time of the E^omans, and, as one of the earliest 
settlements, it may have been less regular in plan, 
and consequently more extensive, than deliberately- 
constructed cities. What if it should have embraced 
the site of Sandwich itself? There are not wanting 
those who assert that Sandwich was actually the 
ancient city of Eutupise,! and it is so marked in 
some maps. The site of the Roman burial-place 
attached to it has also to be ascertained. J Mr. Boys 
states that in his time some urns were found in a 
sand-pit on the hill on the left hand of the road lead- 

* Inventorium Sepulchrale, p. 19, note. 

t Math. Westminster. Somner's Ports and Forts, pp. 3 to 7. 
Vide also Harris, Battely, and Plott. 

J Hasted remarks : " There are two large mounts like tumuli on the 
sides of the road at a small distance westward from where the Canter- 
bury Gate of the town of Sandwich lately stood, and there is another 
on the south side of the same road about a quarter of a mile westward 
from them : but without opening them it is impossible to ascertain 
for what purpose such as stood in the marshes and low grounds, as 
these three last do, were made." — (Vol. iii. p. 688, note.) There are 
several mounds in the marshes, which we believe to have been made 
in later times for the purpose of affording refuge to sheep and cattle 
when the marshes were flooded by high tides, or the prevalence of 
heavy rain. One of the largest tenants in this district, to whom we 
are indebted for this suggestion, assures us that he has levelled and 
examined some of them, and never found the slightest indication of 
their being sepulchral monuments. It is quite clear they could not 
have been of Roman construction, as the sea was at that period navi- 
gable over the spots on which they stand. 



BEFORE THE CONQUEST. 13 

ing from the castle to the modern hamlet of Rich- 
borough ;* and Mr. Smith observes that the situation 
is such as would be likely to haye been chosen for this 
purpose. t Mr. Pausset and other antiquaries have 
imagined it to have been at Guilton, adjoining the 
village of Ash, where indications of Roman interments 
have been discovered amongst the Saxon graves ; but 
these Mr. Smith considers to have belonged to the 
people of a vicus on the site of Ash or thereabouts. J 
It is nevertheless probable that the city may have 
extended in that direction very nearly as far as the 
village of Ash, and that such vicus was, in fact, a 
straggling suburb not altogether disconnected with 
the city, which evidently stretched away behind the 
castrum and the Portus Rutupis or actual harbour of 
Rutupise, and must have been limited to the highest 
ground in the parish, the rest being at that period 
undoubtedly covered by the sea at high tides, if not 
continually. 

Suggesting, therefore, that Antoninus speaks of 
the road to the Fort, and Ptolemy of the City itself, 
while Orosius mentions them jointly, just as writers 
of the present day might speak separately or jointly 
of the port and city of London; we will leave this 
point to be decided by future researches, and proceed 
to notice the few facts that have been recorded of 
the history of Eichborough. 



* Collections. f Antiquities of Eichborough. 

X Inventorium Sepnlchrale. 



14 A CORNER OF KENT. 

As early as the second century of the Christian 
era, the delicious oysters conyeyed to Rome from 
this coast were celebrated by Juvenal in his Fourth 
Satire : — 

....." Eutupinove edita fundo 
Ostrea." ..... 

An immense quantity of oyster-shells has been dis- 
covered here amongst the Eoman debris turned up 
at various periods, and particularly in the progress 
of the works for the Sandwich Eailway, which runs 
immediately under the walls of the castrum.* 

The Latin poet Ausonius, in the fourth century, 
makes several allusions to Rutupise. One of his 
uncles, Claudius Contentus, he tells us, was buried 
there ;t and his brother-in-law, Elavius Sanctus, 
appears to have been governor or prefect of the 
Rutupine district, which enjoyed great tranquillity 
imder his rule. :|: 

Ammianus Marcellinus records that Lupicinus, 

* From the appellation of " Trutulensis," given by Tacitus to this 
port, it has been suggested that the trout for which tlie Stoiir is still 
famous were as celebrated in the time of the Romans. 

t " Et patruos Elegeia meos reminiscere cantus 

Contentum Tellus quern Rutupina tegit." — Paeentalia. 

J " Militiam nullo qui turbine sedulus egit 
Prseside Isetatus quo Rutupinus ager." 

Dr. Harris says there were in his time about a quarter of a mile 
westward from the castle two very large tumuli which he supposes 
to have belonged to the two persons above mentioned. This is of 
course a mere conjecture : but vide note J, ante, p. 12. 



BEFORE THE CONQUEST. 15 

marshal of the army, landed in Rutupisej with a force 
of light-armed troops, sent by the Emperor Julian to 
repel the Picts and Scots ; and in the time of Yalentian 
and Valens, the arrival of Theodosius, father of the em- 
peror of that name, on a similar expedition, is com- 
memorated by the same historian.* At the beginning 
of the fifth century, we learn from the Xotitia that 
the town was the head- quarters of the second legion, 
called Augusta, and sometimes Britannica.f Pive or 
six facts in nearly as many hundred years ! Such is the 
meagre amount of information to be depended upon, 
which has been handed down to us respecting E^ich- 
borough during its occupation by the Romans. The 
rest is mere assertion or speculation, more or less 
probable. We may be justified in supposing that the 
highest ground in this district was, in the days of 
Julius Caesar, covered with wood, principally elm 
and oak; and imagination may people the sandy 
shore of that sea which then flowed over the marshes, 
with painted Britons, shaking their bronze-headed 
spears in defiance of the veteran soldiers advancing 
against them, with the same confidence in their dis- 
cipline and superior weapons which a regiment of 
the line would feel in making good its landing against 
a swarm of South- Sea islanders. Por the claims of 
the beach between Deal and Dover to be considered as 
the locality wherein the Iloman invader first set foot 

* Books XX. aud XXVII. 

t "Prepontus Legionis secuncU'e Augustse Rutupii." — (Cap. Hi.) 



16 A COKNER OF KENT. 

are by no means undisputed. Nearly every possible 
spot between the North Poreland and Beachy Head 
has its enthusiastic advocate, and E-ichborough is not 
without its tradition and its theory ; but while we 
are in utter ignorance of the many changes the coast 
has undergone since that period, it is next to im- 
possible to draw any reliable inferences from Caesar's 
description of it. 

The frowning masses of masonry which have re- 
sisted the assaults of time, tempest, and man for 
eighteen centuries, are, after all, the great fact which 
is more valuable than a thousand theories. Whether 
a British fort, raised by a chief who has been called 
Arviragus, originally occupied the site of the castrum, 
may never be ascertainable ; but * that the walls still 
existing were reared by the masters of the ancient 
world ; that through that nearly perfect postern 
gate Ptoman emperors have entered and departed; 
that the shouts of joyous multitudes mingled with 
reverential cries of ''Ave, Csesar Imperator!" have 
arisen from that amphitheatre over which the corn 
now waves or the plough now passes, is as well 
known to us as if it were recorded in the pages of 
Tacitus. 

Vespasian may not have built the castle; but as 
an officer serving in the army of Aulus Plautus, he 
must have entered the natural harbour it afterwards 
commanded. Claudius came over to Britain to 
partake the triumph of his general, took Maiden, in 
Essex, the Camulodunum of the Bomans, and the 



BEFORE THE CONQUEST. 17 

capital of Cunobellin, remained sixteen days in the 
island, and returned to E^ome, leaving Plantus to 
govern Britain. Titus, the future conqueror of 
Jerusalem, came hither as military tribune under his 
father Vespasian. Agricola with, possibly, Tacitus 
in his train, for there are expressions in his graphic 
account of the expedition that would justify our 
believing he was an eye-witness of some of the events 
he records; Hadrian; Severus, who is presumed to 
have completed the defences of Richborough, and died 
at York ; Constantius, who also expired in Britain ; 
his son Constantino the Great, who was raised to the 
purple in this country ; and Maximus, the competitor 
of Gratian, a Briton by birth, according to some 
historians, and who is stigmatized by Ausonius as 
"the Bobber of Butupis," — must all have passed 
through the water-gate of Butupium, the common 
port of communication with Gaul. One still greater 
than emperor, general, or historian, is presumed to 
have landed at Bichborough. There is a vague 
tradition that Christianity was first preached in 
Britain by St. Paul, the Apostle of the Gentiles, and 
much learning has been wasted in vain attempts to 
establish the fact.* We must, however, be first 
satisfied that he, like those we have already named, 
actually did visit these shores, before we speculate on 
the place of his landing. Amongst the holy and 
canonized men who in these early ages must have 

* Harris, Hist. Kent, p. 488. 
C 



18 A CORNER or KENT. 

seen Richborougli in its glory, we may mention St. 
Germanus, Bishop of Anxerre, who twice encoun- 
tered the perils of the ocean to combat the Pelagian 
heresy in Britain, narrowly escaping on his second 
voyage, in company with Lupus of Troyes, the fearful 
tempests raised, as the Venerable Bede assures us, 
"by the malevolence of demons, who were jealous 
that such men should be sent to bring back the 
Britons to the faith." * 

With such materials for our fancy to work upon, 
we may stand upon that now deserted highland, and 
rebuild, in imagination, that celebrated fortress. We 
may still picture to ourselves '' the Channel fleet " of 
that period at anchor in the placid waters which then 
reflected its proud battlements, or seeking, by the 
light of its lofty Pharos, a refuge in that *' tranquil 
haven " from the dark and turbulent ocean without. 
Turning to the north, we may descry the Belgic 
Briton, in his wicker coracle, paddling over to the 
Isle of Thanet, divided from the mainland by the sea, 
at that point nearly a mile in breadth, and studded 
with trading vessels from Gaul, Greece, or Phoenicia. 
Or, looking westward, see the colonial city covering 
the slope of the hill; its busy streets, of which the 
tracks were visible in the reign of Elizabeth ; the 
forum thronged by its mixed population, foreign 
merchants, curious travellers, idle mariners, and all 
the motley crowd that congregate in a thriving com- 

* Eocles. Hi!^l. chiip, xviii. 



BEFORE THE CONQUEST. 19 

mercial seaport town. The temple of ^Esculapius^* 
the palace of the Prefect Sanctus, the villa of the 
opulent Contentus, of which, perhaps, that broken 
tile at our feet may he the last remaining relic. 
The reader may smile; hut there is no exaggera- 
tion in the picture. There can be no doubt that 
such were the general features of the scene which 
once presented itself to the sight on this spot, 
and the probability is that our slight sketch is 
rather under than over-coloured. Even after the 
final departure of the Romans, Rutupis retained 
its importance for centuries, both as a mart and 
a haven. Vessels from the west found a safer 
and shorter passage to the mouth of the Thames 
by passing through the estuary, and the large 
quantities of minimi to which we have already 
alluded, as well as of Saxon coins which have been 
discovered here, from those of the earliest descrip- 
tion called Sceattas, down to some of the ninth 
century, prove the continuous occupation of the site 
to that period. 

The first event of consequence after the withdrawal 
of the E;oman legions, was the arrival of the Jutes, 
traditionally under Hengist. '* The Saxon fleets," 
remarks Mr. Thomas Wright, '' had long infested the 
eastern shore of Britain with their incursions, and in 
the long series of usurpations of the imperial title by 

* A large brass image of a cock, the bird sacred to that deity, and 
supposed to have sarmounted a temple dedicated to him, was exhumed 
here, according to a tradition at Sandwich recorded by Dr. Battely. 

c 2 



20 A COKNER OF KENT. 

governors of tlie island during the latter period of 
the E/oman sway, the Saxon and E-oman fleets had 
frequently ridden side by side in friendly alliance. In 
fact it is probable that the E-omano- British navy con- 
sisted, in a greater degree than we would suppose, of 
Saxon mariners. It is not unlikely they had formed 
settlements on the eastern coast, called after them the 
Littus Saxonicum, or Saxon shore, long before the 
Roman legions had relinquished the island. Eich- 
borough, the chief station of the Eoman navy, would 
be the last post deserted ; and a comparison of various 
traditions on the subject with a few facts that are 
known, would lead us to suppose that these Saxon 
settlers came rather as allies of the Eomans than 
under any other character, and that they established 
themselves in Thanet under the protection of Eegul- 
bium and Eutupise rather than in fear of those strong 
fortresses. As the support of the Eoman power was 
eventually withdrawn, the supremacy in the province 
of Britain was left to be contended for in a confused 
struggle between the new Saxon settlers, the old and 
more civilized Eomano-British population, and the 
barbarian Picts and Scots of the North."* In the 
year 449 according to the Saxon Chronicle — but it were 
safer to say about the middle of the fifth century — 
two Jutish chieftains, familiar to us under the typical 
names of Horsa and Hengist, with a small band of 
chosen followers on board of three vessels, entered 

* Wanderings of an Antiquary, pp. 71, 72. 



BEFORE THE CONQUEST. 21 

the port of Rutupis and landed, according to the best 
authorities, at a spot subsequently called Wypped's- 
floet, now Ebbsfleet, in the Isle of Tlianet. Bede 
says they were the sons of Victgilsus, whose father 
was Yicta, son of Woden or Odin, a deified chief of 
the Scandinavians.* The Saxon Chronicle interposes 
a fourth generation ;t but it is needless for us to enter 
into that controversy, or even to decide between 
those who assert that these victors were wandering 
exiles, and others who contend that they were invited 
protectors. We purposely refrain from even briefly 
noticing the stories of Nennius, Gildas, and Geoffrey 
of Monmouth. The romance of "Vortigern and 
Eowena" was appropriately dramatized by the im- 
postor Ireland. Sir Francis Palgrave observes: "These 
details have been told so often that they have acquired 
a prescriptive right to credit ; but I believe they bear 
no nearer relation to the real history of Anglo-Saxon 
England than the story of jEneas as related by Yirgil 
does to the real history of the foundation of E;ome."3: 
Whatever contests occurred between the Britons and 
Saxons at this period, it is clear that up to the present 
time neither the places, dates, or names of the leaders 
have been accurately recorded. All that we know for 
certain is that a Saxon or Jutish sovereignty was 
established during the latter half of the fifth century 

* Eccles. Hist. cap. xv. 

t " Sons of Wihtgils j Wihtgils son of Witta, Witta of Wecta, 
Wecta of Woden." — (Saxon Clironicle, sub anno.) 
% History of England, Anglo-Saxon Period, p. 30. 



L&'iia«i,^-.ai.^. 



22 A CORNER OF KENT. 

in this part of Kent, either by the chieftain called 
Hengist himself, or by a near kinsman, some say his 
son ; and that Richborough was one of the earliest 
royal Saxon residences, its Roman name of Rutupis 
being transmuted by its new masters into Eepta- 
cseaster,* and occasionally Ricsburg, or the King's 
castle, t from whence its modern appellation. 

Whateyer may have been the real name of Hengist, 
that of his successor was undoubtedly Eric ; but, like 
his relatives, he also had a typical cognomen, the 
derivation of which is uncertain, but possibly of more 
consequence to our present inquiry than has been 
imagined. He was surnamed Esc, or Oisc, which has 
been latinized Escus, the interpretation of which 
must depend upon whether the name was given him 
by his own people or by the Britons. Use and Oisc 
are both of them forms of the old British word for 
water, which may be found in all its varieties, as asc^ 
isc, osc, use, &c. ; from whence the Axe, the Exe, 
the Ouse, and other names of rivers in this country, 
and, what is of more interest to us, the Eshe, as that 
part of the Stour was called in the neighbourhood of 
Ashford, anciently Eshetisford, or the ford of the 
Eshe; the Stour itself meaning the same thing, 
being only a corruption of es dilr, which also signifies 
in Celtic "the water." But, by one of those singular 
coincidences which so distract and mislead the etymo- 

* '• E-uthubi portum, qui portns a gente Anglorum nunc corrupta 
E-eptacester vocatus." — (Becle, Eccles. Hist. lib. i. cap. i.) 
t Alured of Beverley. 



BEFORE THE CONQUEST. 23 

legist, the word iEsc in Anglo-Saxon signifies an ash- 
tree. Sir Erancis Palgrave, one of onr most intelligent 
Anglo-Saxon historians, says, ''Prom the spear which 
he wielded, or the vessel which bore him over the 
waves, he was surnamed ^sc or Ash-tree; and 
^Escingas, or Sons of the Ash-tree, did the Kings of 
Kent, his descendants, call themselves so long as 
their dynasty endured."* It would also seem pro- 
bable, as has been observed by another erudite and 
elegant writer, that Ash was the general name for a 
hero, in allusion to the primeval man of Teutonic 
mytholog}^, who was believed to have sprung from the 
sacred ash-tree, t Without dwelling further on this 
subject, or insisting in any way on the value of the 
suggestion, we will simply call upon our readers to 
remark that no question has hitherto arisen as to the 
cause of the name of Ash (Ece or Esce, as it appears 
in the earliest documents) being given to this ex- 
tensive parish,}: and leave them to form their own 

* Hist. Anglo-Saxon, p. 37. Vide also Bede, Eccles. Hist. lib. ii. 
cap. V. who calls him Orric, " surnamed Oisc, from whom the kings 
of Kent are wont to be called Oiscings" The descendants of Offa 
or Uffk, King of Mercia, were in like manner termed Offingse or 
XJffings. 

t Historical Memorials of Canterbury, by Canon Stanley, p. 15, 
note. Grimm's Deutsche Myth. i. 324, 530, 617. 

X Philipot, in his " Yillare Cantium," p. 395, briefly says, "Ash, from 
that kind of tree j" a mere suggestion applying to any place of that 
name (and there are several in Kent alone), and of the same value as 
his derivation of Ashford, viz. : " Orignally Eshetisford, implying the 
great plenty of Ashen trees growing about the forde" (p. 394) ; for- 
getting that £Jshe in this instance is clearly the old name of the 



jM^^^k::- 



•-" 



24 A CORNER OP KENT. 

opinion as to the probability of its derivation either 
from the water which in the days of the Britons 
covered so large a portion of it, or from the warlike 
Saxon, who, as Sir Prancis Palgrave remarks, appears 
to have been the first real king of this part of the 
country, as "he and not his father Hengist was 
honoured as founder of the Kentish dynasty." 

According to the Saxon Chronicle, Hengist and his 
son JEsc fought against the Britons several battles in 
various parts of Kent : one at Aylesford in 455, where 
Horsa was killed ; another, if not two, the following 
year at Crayford; and in 465 a decisive one near 
Ebbsfleet, and there slew twelve British chieftains, 
losing one of their own thanes, whose name was 
Wypped ; from which circumstance the place is sup- 
pose to have received its name of Wypped's fleet. In 
488, according to the same authority, ^sc succeeded 
to the kingdom. 

The reign of Eric or Esc, and of his successors Octa 
and Hermenric are described as "inactive," and we 
may therefore consider them peaceful. The battles 
of Cerdic in Sussex and the landing of Ida in 
Northumbria do not appear to have disturbed the 
tranquillity of Kent ; and for about eighty or ninety 
years Bichborough and its vicinity, it may fairly be 
presumed, enjoyed prosperity and increased its popu- 
lation. The extent of the sepulchral remains at 

river. As regards our parish of Ash-next-Sandwich, it is remarkable 
that the whole district is nearly destitute of ash, and is not tradi- 
tionally even celebrated for the growth of it. 



Platl 2. 




Fig.i 

Fib'Qla of SilTer gilt 
^T\ d Br oplz e . 



Jig. 3. , 

Buclde of G-irdle or STTordBelt,! 
Sit\rer gilt w.i th p' o 1 d. b or der s . i 




■ Waller LUb-lB.HiUcn'Jar'i'ri 



]- ait of a Eoi s e s Bit lAn glo S axon) 

mtli a.PvomaiL Com attacfied to it . w&,siBxtt.aeietm; 



Aiigl o S axo j\ Aruti q u i ti e s di s c over e d at GrUiltoii 



BErORE THE CONQUEST. 25 

Guilton, and the character of the ornaments and 
weapons discovered, prove that a large and wealthy 
community lived and died in this neighbourhood 
previous to the conversion of the Kentish Jutes to 
Christianity. 

The name of Guilton or Guiltontown, as it is 
indifferently called from its earlier appellation Guil- 
denton, is provocative of a little inquiry, connected 
as it is with this celebrated pagan Saxon ceme- 
tery, in which it is most probable King Esc and his 
immediate successors were royally interred; more 
particularly as neither Lambarde nor Philipot, 
Harris nor Hasted have indulo^ed in the slio;htest 
speculation as to its origin. The unfortunate silence 
of Anglo-Saxon annals and charters is still more to 
be deplored, as we have no more ancient form of the 
name to assist our investigation than one which occurs 
in a will of the fifteenth century, where it is spelt 
Gildenston. In another, a century later, it is spelt 
Gildestowne ; but the arbitrary character of the ortho- 
graphy of the Middle Ages must never be lost sight 
of in such researches. 

Gill, in Anglo-Saxon, signifies a small stream, or 
rivulet ; and as that which is called Wingham Brook 
runs through the meadows below Guilton, it might 
fairly be held to signify " the town on the brook ;" 
but taking into consideration the important evidence 
which the excavations in this locality have brought to 
light, we are inclined to believe that it indicates the 
existence here of some particular place of worship 



26 A COENER OF KENT. 

— some peculiar object either of Celtic or Teutonic 
adoration. Cry Id, or Gylt, signifies, in one sense of 
the Anglo-Saxon, idol, or altar, and giltodan is to 
worship. It is true that the latter is deducible from 
the custom of offering money, gelt, at the altar, and 
is equiyalent to payment ; but that interpretation 
by no means weakens our argument; it rather 
strengthens it. The guilds of the Anglo-Saxons de- 
rived their appellation from the same source,* being 
originally convivial and social clubs or confederations, 
established to meet the expenses of penal mulcts and 
other pecuniary liabilities. In process of time, from 
general associations connected, after the conversion 
of the Saxons to Christianity, with religious establish- 
ments and observances, they became purely secular 
fraternities of particular craftsmen or dealers, known 
as '' merchants' guilds," and protected by special 
charters of incorporation. Guildenton, or Gildes- 
towne, may therefore be fairly interpreted either as 
the circle, enclosure, or town of worship or offering, 
or of the altar or idol, or as the town of the guild, 
or place where the community paid those offerings or 
contributions which defrayed, amongst other expenses, 
those oi burial and funeral ceremony .i 

* The payments or subscriptions to them in the earliest stage 
appear to have been in beer or mead, honey or malt, and not in coin ; 
geld must therefore in this instance be taken in its wider sense of 
offering or tribute. — {Vide Thrupp's "Anglo-Saxon Home," 8vo. 1862, 
p. 160.) 

t " One of the first occupations which the Guilds added to that of 
conviviality, was the superintendence of the burial of members. They 



BEFORE THE CONQUEST. 27 

It was not till some time after this opinion had 
been entertained, that the writer was informed there 
had actually existed, from time immemorial, a local 
tradition, which appears to have been thought un- 
worthy of record by Kentish topographers ; viz., that 
on this precise spot stood an idol of solid gold, three 
feet in height, and that it still lay buried beneath 
one of the tumuli. 

So strong is that belief at the present day, that on 
applying recently for permission to dig on some land 
at Guilton, adjoining that portion which had been 
previously excavated, it was granted with the distinct 
stipulation, that if the golden idol should be disco- 
vered, it should be held as the property of the owners 
of the estate. 

Although local traditions are not to be entirely 
depended upon, as they have frequently their origin 
in the attempts of imaginative but unlearned persons 
to account for objects and circumstances which they 
do not understand, they are still deserving our re- 
spectful attention, as there is generally some modi- 
cum of truth to be extracted from them. Witness 
the legend of the British chief whose ghost, in 
golden armour, was said to haunt the tumulus 

bound themselves to recover the body of every fellow guildsman 
who died far a-field, to form a procession for bringing it home, and 
to wake and bury it with musical honours. The assistance of the 
clergy was necessary on these occasions, and consequently the 
payment of soul-shot and a certain sum for masses, were among the 
earliest recognized charges on the corporate funds," — (Thrupp, ut 
supi'ci, p. 161.) 



28 A CORNER OF KENT. 

under which he was buried, at Mold, in Flintshire, 
and out of which tumulus the excavators for the 
railway between Chester and Bangor dug what 
they at first believed to be an old brass fender, 
but which proved to be an ancient British corslet of 
pure gold. The greater portion of it is now to 
be seen in what is called the '' Gold Boom," at the 
British Museum. 

We are not sanguine enough to expect a similar 
confirmation of the tradition of Guiltontown by the 
exhumation of a golden idol ; but the tradition itself 
is singularly in accordance with the suggested etymo- 
logy of Guildenton or Gildestown. 

Be this, however, as it may, we are fully justified 
in concluding that in the sixth century the highlands 
in this parish had been considerably cleared of wood, 
and were well covered with the habitations of a mixed 
people, Romano-British and Anglo-Saxon ; a friendly 
fusion of races, enjoying a community of interests, and 
if not adoring the same divinities, undoubtedly buried 
in the same graves. 

It was at this period and during the reign of 
Ethelbert, the great-grandson of Eric or Esc, that 
Augustine and his companions arrived in the port of 
Bichborough. The date is generally conceded to be 
597. The Venerable Bede merely states that he dis- 
embarked in the Isle of Thanet ; but Thorne, a monk 
of Canterbury, says, " in insula Thanet, in loco qui 
dicitur Batesburgh," i,e. Bichborough; and Leland 
tells us that Bichborough was at that time considered 



BEFORE THE CONQUEST. 29 

to be a portion of Thanet. The holy missionary, on 
leaving the ship, trod, we are told, on a stone, which 
retained the print of his foot as though it had been 
clay. This stone was preserved in a chapel dedicated 
to Augustine after his canonization, and yearly, on 
the anniversary of its deposit, crowds of people flocked 
thither to pray for and receive health. This state- 
ment, though of no historical worth, being written in 
the fourteenth century, is of value, says Mr. Smith, 
in reference to the antiquity of the chapel mentioned 
by Leland (of which we shall speak anon), while the 
general belief in the sanctity of the place and its asso- 
ciations, the periodical visits paid by the sick and the 
devout to the chapel of St. Augustine and to the holy 
stone, if they are not received as proofs of his landing 
at E;ichborough, may, at all events, be admitted as 
a tradition founded on a general knowledge that the 
Eutupine coast, and particularly Eichborough itself, 
were in the sixth century, and later still, the principal 
points of debarcation from Gaul.* 

The majority of the most respectable authorities 
concur in fixing upon Ebbsfleet in Thanet as the spot 
on which Augustine landed, and we have no wish to 
claim for Eichborough more than is fairly its due. 
It was undoubtedly into the haven it protected that 
the Christian missionaries guided their barque, and 
although it is most probable that they might first set 
foot on English soil on the opposite side of the harbour, 

* Antiquities of Richborongh, pp. 160, 161. 



30 A CORNER OF KENT. 

it was no douM in the royal residences of Eicliborough, 
Eeculver, and Canterbury that their labours were 
prosecuted ; and in the '' Sandwich Manuscripts," 
printed by Mr. Boys in his Collections, a compila- 
tion of the sixteenth century from ancient chronicles 
and records, we find an account which we are much 
inclined to think approaches the truth as nearly as 
possible : — 

" Upon the east part of Kent lyeth the Isle of 
Thanet, where Augustine and his fellows landed, 
being in number forty persons, as it is reported, who, 
by his interpreter sent to King Ethelbert, gave the 
King to understand that he, with his company, was 
come from Rome to bring unto him and his people 
the glad tidings of the Gospell, the way unto eternal 
life and blisse to all them that believe the same ; which 
thing the King heareing, came shortly after into his 
pallace or castle of^upticester, or Michborrow^ situate 
nigh the old city of Stonehore, and the King sitting 
under the cliff or rock whereon the castle is built, 
commanded Augustine with his followers to be brought 
before him." 

This graphic and interesting description is in per- 
fect harmony with Bede's statement that the King 
'^ had taken precautions that they should not come to 
him in any house, lest, according to an ancient super- 
stition, if they practised any magical arts, they might 
impose on him, and so get the better of him ;" and 
his assertion, that some days after their arrival *' the 
King came into the island," is not invalidated, if we 



BEFORE THE CONQUEST. 31 

are to credit those who tell us that Hichhorough was 
then considered to be a portion of Thanet. 

That the sovereign of Kent should be seated on the 
sea-shore, under the shadow of his own castle, and 
command the attendance of these mysterious strangers, 
is much more probable than that he should have 
crossed over to the Isle of Thanet for the purpose of 
a first interview. 

The Queen of Ethelbert was a Frankish princess, 
named Bertha, sister of Charibert, King of Paris. 
Bertha had embraced the Christian faith previous to 
her marriage, and had been accompanied to England 
by Luithard, Bishop of Soissons, who died in Kent 
and was buried at Canterbury. Bertha is naturally 
supposed to have influenced her royal husband in 
Augustine's favour. " In the north side of the cas- 
tel," writes Leland, " ys a hedde in the walle, now sore 
defaced with wether ; they cawle it Queue Bertha 
hedde." A piece of stone or marble, now worn com- 
pletely smooth, is still to be seen in the north wall 
near the postern-gate of Bichborough ; but whether 
of Boman or Saxon introduction it would be difficult 
now to determine. 

Eadbald, the son and successor of Ethelbert, a.d. 
616, restored the Saxon paganism in Kent, and drove 
out the Christian ecclesiastics ; but Laurentius, the 
successor of Augustine, appeared before Eadbald, 
bleeding from severe stripes, and audaciously declared 

* Vide pp. 28, 29, ante. 



32 A COUNER OF KENT. 

that St. Peter had inflicted them on him during the 
night, because he was about to forsake his flock, and 
had commanded him to go to the King and make 
known the true faith to him. The ignorant and 
superstitious Saxon, terrified at the idea that the 
next visit of St. Peter might be to him, became a 
penitent convert, recalled the exiled clergy, and 
eventually died in the odour of sanctity. 

Ercombert, his youngest son, who succeeded him, 
was, we are told, a zealous Christian, and ordered the 
heathen temples throughout his dominions to be razed 
to the ground, and the idols to be broken in pieces, 
lest they should hereafter prove a snare to the people. 
If an idol or Saxon temple of any description ever 
existed at Guilton, its destruction may therefore be 
fixed at this date. The fluctuations between Christi- 
anity and Paganism, which no doubt took place 
amongst the people as well as in their princes, are 
curiously illustrated by the contents of the Guilton 
sepulchres. 

The peace and prosperity of this part of the island 
were now rapidly departing. Intestine divisions en- 
couraged foreign aggression, and towards the close of 
tlie seventh century, Cadwalla, King of the West 
Saxons, in revenge for the death of his brother, Mul, 
Mol, or Mollo, who, after overrunning and plundering 
the country, had been burnt alive in a farm-house 
by the exasperated inhabitants, ^^ entered Kent at the 

* Saxon Chron. suh anno 687 ; Henry Hunttingdon, lib. iv. ; and 
William of Malmsbniy, lib. i. cap. i. 



BEFORE THE CONQUEST. 33 

head of a formidable army, and wasting it from end 
to end with fire and sword, reduced it to such a state 
that it never recovered its importance during its ex- 
istence as a separate kingdom, which terminated in 
823 with the death of Baldred, when it was annexed 
by the victorious Egbert to the rest of his dominions, 
and became part of the kingdom of England. 

It was now, however, to suffer from a new scourge. 
As early as 787, we learn from the Saxon Chronicle 
that the Danes had made their appearance on the 
English coast. In 832 they landed on the Isle of 
Sheppy, plundered it, and returned unmolested to 
their ships. Six years afterwards they again landed 
in Kent, and extended their ravages to Canterbury, 
Eochester, and even London itself. In 851, after 
being defeated at sea, off Sandwich, by King Ethel- 
stan, who took nine of their ships, they landed in the 
Island of Thanet, and wintered there, probably held in 
check by the still formidable fortress of Uichborough. 
Alured of Beverley, under this date, informs us that 
Alcher, the Ealderman, with the people of Canter- 
bury, fell on the Danes, encumbered with booty, and 
routed them at this place, then called Richberga. 

Undismayed by this reverse, they landed at Sand- 
wich in the following spring, and pillaged it ; and 
repeatedly, during the tenth and the beginning of 
the eleventh century, these ferocious Northmen re- 
peated their fearful visitations, and laid waste the 
neighbouring country with fire and sword. That the 
whole of this parish was more than once involved in 

D 



34 A CORNER OF KENT. 

this destruction tliere can be no doubt. In the Sand- 
wich. MSS. we read : '' The city of Eutupi, with the 
castle now called E;ichborrow Castle, was utterly 
destroyed b^^ fire and sword. Such was the rage of 
King Sweyne and his Danes in the year of grace 990." 
We doubt the accuracy of the date. The invasion by 
Sweyne and Olave is recounted by the Saxon Chronicle 
in 993 and 994, in which latter year, it is quaintly 
recorded, " they wrought the utmost evil that ever 
any army could do, by burning and plundering and 
by man-slaying, both by the sea-coast and among the 
East Saxons, and in the land of Kent ^ and in Sussex 
and Hampshire." There is no particular mention of 
E;ichborough ; but as they do not appear to have held 
it at any period, they most likely did tlieir utmost to 
ruin it ; and as it had ceased for some time to be a 
royal residence, it may not have been thought neces- 
sary to repair the damages inflicted, and we have no 
evidence of its having ever been a place of strength or 
consideration after that date. The injury to its har- 
bour by the increase of the sand, and the consequent 
transfer of its commercial and military importance to 
the adjacent port of Sandwich, which is first heard of 
in the seventh century, contributed to its decay, and at 
the period of its history at which we have now arrived, 
it had been completely superseded by Sandwich, de- 
scribed, in the reign of Canute as '' the most famous 
of all the ports of England."* 

* EncoDi, Emma3, 



BEFOUE THE CONQUEST. 35 

As early as the time of Bede, who wrote at the 
commencement of the eighth century, we find the 
noble estuary had subsided into ''the river Want- 
sum, about three furlongs over, and fordable in two 
places.*" An old map in Lewis's "Thanet" illus- 
trates this description. Before the I^orman invasion, 
Bichborough had dwindled down to an insignificant 
hamlet, and its castle was crumbling away beneath 
the hand of time and the depredations of man. The 
extinction of paganism had written Ichabod on the 
glory of Guiltontown, and the high road or street 
between Wingham and Sandwich, running through 
what is now the village of Ash, was the only import- 
ant feature of the parish. 

Important it must have been, as the direct line of 
communication by land between the capital of Kent 
and the principal port on its south coast. Here, if 
anywhere within the preserit parochial boundaries, 
would the Saxon inhabitants have been most likely to 
congregate around a Christian church (occupying, 
perhaps, the site of the present), having been itself 
erected on the ruins of a Boman temple, which had 
replaced a Druidical altar. That such was the ordi- 
nary course throughout the country there is ample 
evidence ; and without assuming it as a fact, we may 
believe that in all probability Ash was not an excep- 
tion to the rule. 

As during the Boman occupation the history of 

* Eccles. Hitit. ciq). xxv. 
D 2 



36 A CORNER OP KENT. 

this corner of Kent is that of Richborough, so under 
the sway of the Saxons (at least after their conversion 
to Christianity) it merges into that of Sandwich ; and 
throughout the first half of the eleventh century we 
have continual mention of the plundering, burning, 
and ravaging to which the whole neighbourhood was 
subjected. 

The last previous to the great Norman invasion 
appears to have been in 1048, when, according to the 
Saxon Chronicle, " Sandwich and the Isle of Wight 
were ravaged, and the chief men that were there 
slain." At this period the powerful Godwin was 
Earl of Kent, and during his subsequent struggle with 
Edward the Confessor, the fleets of the King and of 
his turbulent subject alternately entered the port and 
threaded the diminishing channel of the Wantsum ; 
and in 1052 Godwin and his son Harold sailed through 
it to the mouth of the Thames, on their hostile expe- 
dition to London. 

It is only in the latter days of Edward the Confes- 
sor that we discover the name of a solitary landholder 
in some part of this devastated district, when a few 
acres were possessed by a person named Bernholt, 
at a place called Ece, in the hundred of Eastry, and 
which Mr. Hasted takes to be Ash-next-Sandwich, 
with what probability we shall inquire in the next 
chapter. ^ 




Coffer of the 15th Century in the Vestry of St. Nicholas Church, Ash. 

CHAPTEE II. 

DESCENT OF THE MANOHS. 

WITH the reign of William the Conqueror, com- 
mences that valuable series of official documents 
by which, with the exception of some fifty or sixty 
years, we are enabled to trace pretty clearly the 
descent of property in this country from the close of 
the 11th century to the present day, and illustrate by 
legal evidence the genealogies of its principal families. 
It is in the great Survey of England, known as the 
'' Domesday Book," made by order of the king, A.D. 
1082 — 1086, that we find mention of a place called 
JEce, in Ustrei hundred, which, after the Conquest, 
formed part of the enormous possessions of William's 
half-brother Odo, Bishop of Baieux and Earl of Kent, 
and wherein a yoke of land was held under him 
by one Osbert Fitz-Letard. That on it were three 



38 A COBNER OF KENT. 

villains (husbandmen, be it understood) ; that in King 
Edward's time, when it was held by a Saxon named 
Bernholt, it was worth 125. annually, afterwards only 
6s,, and at the period of the survey had risen in value 
to 16^.* 

According to the same document, this Osbert, or 
Osbern Eitz-Letard, was a very considerable land- 
holder in this neighbourhood under Bishop Odo and 
other lords ; t but of his parentage or descendants 
we know nothing. The name of Letardus occurs as 
that of an undertenant in Wiltshire ; but whether 
the Osbert of Ash were his son or not, we are without 
means of ascertaining. There was also a Letard, 
Rector of Northfleet, who died in 1199, who might 
have been a collateral descendant of our Osbert ; but 
we have not been able to trace any connection, 

Mr. Hasted also quotes an entry in Domesday, by 
which it appears that one Turstin held two yokes in 
Ece of the bishop ; but as that Ece is said to have 
been in Summerden (Smerden) hundred, and the 
former in Estrei (Eastry) hundred, it is clear they 
are two different places; and indeed it might be 

* The jugum, or yoke of land, is estimated by Mr. Morgan 
(England under the Norman Invasion, p. 39) at half a ploughland, 
or carucate, which varied according to the soil ; being as much as a 
plough could till in a year. The yoke has been calculated at forty- 
eight acres, set by the perch of sixteen feet ; bat cannot be exactly 
determined. See notes *, pp. 39, 40. 

t "In Estrei Hund. Oslai filii Letard ttn de Ej o Hama." He 
also held Bedesham, now Beacham, in Wingham hundred, under which, 
m Domesday, he is called both Oabert and Osbern. 



DESCENT OE THE MANORS. 39 

questioned whether either of them was the Ash next 
Sandwich, in the hundred of Wingham. 

Of Ash as a parish we shall speak hereafter. It is 
only from the descent of the manors it contained 
that we can learn much of its early history. These 
amounted to twelve ; namely. Overland, Goldston, 
Holland, Checquer, Chilton, Weddington, Levericks, 
Goshall, Hill's Court, Twitham Hills, Barton, and 
Elect. 

We shall commence with that of 

ELEET, 

as in it, or attached to it, were the hamlet and 
castle of Eichhorough ; and in following the descent 
of the manor, we shall continue and complete the 
history of that famous fortress. Elect, from the 
Anglo-Saxon fleot, a running water, — flood, is a 
district in the north-east part of the parish, and 
was anciently held of the Archbishop of Canterbury, 
as of his manor of Wingham ; accordingly it is 
entered under the general title of the Archbishop's 
lands in the survey of Domesday as follows : — " Of 
this manor {i.e. Wingham) William de Arcis holds 
1 suling* in Eletes, and there he has in demesne 
1 carucate and 4 Villeins, and 1 Knight with 1 earn- 

* Suliog, swolling, or swilling, is a word common to Kent, from 
the Anglo-Saxon sul, a plough. So in a charter of King Offa we 
find " aliquam partem terrse trium aratrorum quam Cantianse Anglice 
dicunt 'three sulinge.' " — (Somner's Gavelkind, p. 58; Kenet's 
Glossary, under Selio.) In Dorsetshire a plough is still called a zuU. 
According to some authorities, a yoke of land was the fourth of a 



40 A CORNER or KENT. 

cate,* and one fishery with a saltpit of 30 pence; 
the whole is worth forty shillings." The Archbishop 
of Canterbury at this period was the celebrated 
Lanfranc, who had acquired the see on the disgrace 
of Stigand, A.D. 1070. On founding the priory of 
St. Gregory in 1084, Lanfranc gave that establishment 
the tithe of the Manor of Elect ; and this gift was 
confirmed by Archbishop Hubert in the reign of 
Hichard I. The manor itself was granted by Lanfranc 
'' to one OsbornCjt of whom," says Hasted, " I find 
no further mention, nor oftliis2^lctce, till Senry IIL's 
reign J' Hecent researches will enable us, however, 
to supply some curious information on the latter 
point. 

The person called William de Arcis in Domesday, 
who held under Archbishop Lanfranc the aforesaid 
portion of the manor of Meet, was William d'Arques, 
supposed to be a son of Godfrey or GeoflPrey Eitz- 
Goscelin, Viscomte d'Arques, a bourg and viscomte 
in the Pays de Caux.l Much confusion has arisen 



suling, which, by the computation given above (note *, p. 38), would 
make a suling about 192 acres. 

* A carucate is a plough-land containing two yokes, and therefore 
half a suling, or ninety-six acres, according to the above calculation. 
This seems borne out by the context, as William de Arcis is said to 
hold one suling, and to have therein in demesne two carucates ; viz., 
one carucate with four villeins, and one knight with one carucate. 

+ Dugdale, Mon. Aug., vol. ii. p. 373- : " Quod feodum dedimus 
Orfberno." 

J Such is Mr. Stapleton's view of the case. ( Vide his elaborate 
paper in the Archseologia, vol. xxxi.) The authors of the " Recherches 



DESCENT OF THE MANORS. 41 

respecting him by the capricious spelling of the name 
Arcis and Arsic, neither of which truly represents the 
Norman title, and occasion it to be confounded with 
Arsick, the cognomen of an entirely different family. 
William d' Arques, by his wife Beatrice, left, according 
to some writers, two daughters : 1st, Matilda, married 
to William the Chamberlain, de Tancarville; and 
2nd, Emma, who married first Nigel de Muneville, 
and secondly Manasses, Comte de Guisnes. This 
Emma, it is quite clear, had a daughter by each of 
her husbands, the descent from whom we shall often 
have occasion to refer to. William d'Arques was 
Lord of Eolkestone, and that barony passed with 
Maud, daughter of Emma, by her first husband, 
Nigel de Muneville, to Euallon d'Avranches. 

Of this great family, from w^hom descended, by 
female heirs, nearly all the large estates in this part 
of the country to the families of Orevecoeur, Criol, 
and Sandwich, the most imperfect and inaccurate 
pedigrees have hitherto been published. Consider- 
able light is thrown upon it and its early connections 
by the recent publication of two very valuable original 
documents by the Kentish Archaeological Society ; 
the first being specially interesting to us, as it shows 
the descent of this very property in Elect, which we 
have seen was vested in William d'Arques at the time 

snr le Domesday" consider William d'Arques to be a collateral of 
the Viscomte. For our opinion the reader is referred to Chapter Y. 
of this volume, which we have specially devoted to all vexed questions, 
genealogical or heraldic. 



42 A CORNER OF KENT. 

of the great survey, and, consequently, fills up the 
gap which Hasted describes as existing between that 
period and the reign of Henry III. 

It is a legal agreement, called '' a Pinal Concord," 
of the eighth year of the reign of Hichard I., 
A.D. 1197, between Elias de Beauchamp and Con- 
stance de Bolbec, his wife, plaintiffs, on the one part, 
and Buellinus de Abrincis (Avranches) * tenant, on 
the other, concerning half a knight's fee, with its 
appurtenances, at Pleet. The above-named persons 
agree that a moiety of the aforesaid knight's fee, 
with the lordship, shall remain in the hands of Elias 
and Constance his wife, and their heirs ; " to wit, a 



* The Kuellinus de Abrincis named in this document Las never 
appeared in any pedigree of the family of D' Avranches. From the 
other interesting record to which we have just alluded_, we infer that 
he was the brother of Simon d' Avranches, plaintiff, or appellant, in 
a trial by wager of battle with Baldwin, Comte de Guisnes, 10th 
February, 1201, respecting the right to some lands in Newington ; 
for there can be no doubt that the hiatus in the MS. should be filled 
up thus '.—'■'■ Inter Simonem de Avranches petentem per IioeUa.h6i. 
fratrem suum." — (Archieol. Cant. vol. ii. p. 265.) This name, 
which was that of his grandfather, who married Maud de Muneville, 
heiress of Folkestone, being most capriciously spelt, not only 
Koellandus, Kuellinus, Roelent, Rualo, and E-uallon, but also 
Graalandus and Graelent, as it will be found in the families of Tany, 
Yaloignes, St. Ledger, and others, beside tbat of D'Avrauches, In 
a document of the date 1127, printed by Mr. Boys in his " Collections 
for the History of Sandwich," pp. 551—3, the name of the grandfather 
is corrupted into Querent de Aurences, and in the " Hot. Curiae Begis," 
9th & 10th of Bichard L, that of the grandson is indifferently given 
as Grelent, Rohelandus, and Rolandus. It has subsided into the more 
familiar form of Bulaud. 



DESCENT OF THE MANORS. 43 

capital messuage and all the land within the walls of 
Ratteburg (the name by which Hichborongh was now 
known), and one acre which is outside the walls 
towards the south of the western entrance of the 
wall ; and the eastern part of the field called Cnolla ; 
and the northern part of the field which is north of 
the aforesaid field called Cnolla; and the northern 
part of the field called Claiire ; and the southern part 
of the field to the south of the Thornhushes ; and the 
northern part of the field which is northward of Hoga; 
and the southern part of the field called Nollis ; and 
the western part of the field called Scantegas ; and the 
western part of the field which is to the north of the 
road which reaches to the walls of Ratteburg ; and 
the eastern part of the field called Staldingburg ; and 
the southern part of Soga ; and the western part 

of and the north part of the field called 

Stepatra ; and the western part of one acre which is 
to the south of the houses of the Lady Isabella. 
Moreover, these men remain to the aforesaid Elias 

and Constance his wife, and their heirs 

Settlee, with all his holding and service ; Estrilda, the 
wife of Wlfi, with all her holding and service ; Luke 
and Philip, the sons of Wlfi, with all their holding 
and service ; Nicholas Pitz-Wimund, with ten acres 

of his holding Jordan of Mete, witli all his 

holding and service, excepting the moiety of service 
which he owes for tenants' cart service ; Edric le 
Sauner, with all his holding and service, and a moiety 
of the service of Walter Hassard ; to wit, 



44 A CORNER OF KENT. 

for the eastern part of his holding ; and for the ser- 
vice of Alice the Angevine (or of Anjou) ; three pence 
halfpenny, and half the service of E^oger Bulege ; and 
for the revenue of Libricus Eitz-E^ichard, three pence 
three farthings. 

'' And for E/uellinus de Avranches, and his heirs, 
there remains his messuage in the field which is to 
the south from the ThornhiislieSi and all the land 
where the thorns are, to wit, of the above-named half 

knight's fee it belongs to Euellinus de 

Avranches next to the Mill; and the. 

western part of the field called Cnolla ; and the 
southern part of the field to the north of the aforesaid 

field of Cnolla ; and the southern part The 

part of the field to the south of the Thornhtishes ; and 
the southern part of the field to the north of Hoga ; 
and the northern part of the field called Noll ; and 

the eastern part of the field The part of 

the field which is to the north from the road to which 
reaches to the walls of Eatteburg ; and the northern 
part of the field which is to the south of the wall of 

Hatteburg and the part of the 

field called Staldinghurga ; and the northern part of 
Hoga ; and the eastern part of Pasture; and the 
southern part of the field called Stepatra ; and the 
eastern part of one acre which is to the south of the 
houses 

" Moreover, Alan de Berelinge remains to Euellinus 
de Avranches, with all his holding and service ; and 
Albrea, wife of Godwin, with all her holding and ser- 



DESCENT OE THE MANOKS. 45 

vice ; and "William le Scot, with all his holding .... 
Humphrey and Roger, sons of Wlwinus, with all their 
holding and service ; Hugo Pitz-Eluric, with all his 
holding and service ; and the homage of Nicholas Pitz- 

Wimund de v are towards the north, near 

the field called Scantega; Mathew, son of Osbert, 
with all his holding and service ; and half the service 
and revenue of Walter Hassard, to wit, for the 

western and for the service of Alice the 

Angevine two pence halfpenny ; and half the service 
of Roger de Bulege ; and for the holding of Ederic * 
Fitz-Richard one penny three farthings, and two 

hens, and a moiety of service da 

to wit owes for tenant cart service. 

"And be it known that a whole moiety in the 
marshes and saltpits, with all the other appurte- 
nances that belong to the above-named half knight's 
fee, remain to Elias de Beauchamp and his wife, 
and their heirs ; and the other moiety remains to 
Ruellinus de Avranches and his heirs, with all its 
appurtenances, and the forstall t which is before the 

gate of the court is between Elias de 

Beauchamp received the homage of the aforesaid 
Buellinus for all the holdings described, which 
remain to the same Buellinus, to be held by him 

* Previously called Lihricus Fitz-Richard. 

t Forstall signified a grass plot in front of a gateway : several 
families have received the name of Forstall from owning or residing 
near one. " Fostal, sl paddock to a large house or a way leading 
thereto. Sussex.'" — (Halliwel], Archaic Diet.) 



46 A COrvNER OF KENT. 

and his heirs of the aforesaid Elias and Constance 
his wife, and of their heirs, for the service of a 
fourth part of a knight's fee; and for this fine 
and agreement B^uellinus de Avranches gave to 
Elias de Beauchamp and Constance his wife ten 
silver marks." 

"We are sure it is not necessary to apologize to our 
least erudite readers for the insertion of this document 
in extenso, replete as it is with local and personal 
information of the greatest interest. Notwithstand- 
ing the tantalizing lacunae which here and there 
occur in the manuscript, we learn from it the names 
of tw^entv individuals who held lands in Eleet in the 
reign of Kichard Coeur de Lion, and nearly all of 
whom were living on the 4th of June, 1197, when 
this agreement was solemnly entered into at West- 
minster hefore Hubert, Archbishop of Canterbury ; 
Ralph, Bishop of Hereford; and Richard, Bishop of 
Ely ; Master Thomas de Husseburne, Bichard de 
Heriet, Osbert Eitz-Hervey, Simon de PateshuU, Oger 
Eitz-Oger, justices ; and other faithful servants of 
the King being then present. Amongst the names of 
the under-tenants we find that of Alan de Berelinge, 
reminding us of Bereling Street, in this parish, and 
that persons are still living in the neighbourhood 
who bear this name ; of Jordan de Elete, apparently 
the most considerable landowner, as he had his 
surname from the manor itself. The Saxon names 
of Godwin, Ulfi or Ulsi, and Wulwin or Wulfin, 
probably those of descendants of families settled 



DESCENT OF THE MANORS. 47 

there long before the Norman occupation.* But not 
only the names of the tenants are handed down to 
us, but those of the very fields they cultivated around 
the walls of Richborough Castle, and their positions 
so minutely and clearly described, that it would take 
no great trouble at the present day to identify them. 
That called CnoUa was most probably the one in 
which the amphitheatre was discovered. It still 
presents the appearance of a mound or knoll of 
earth. StaldingS^^r^, from its termination, indicates 
some tradition of a town. The other names are of 
uncertain orthography, and may be corruptions ; but 
it is yet possible they may be traced in charters and 
rolls of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. The 
salts mentioned are specified in Domesday {vide 
page 40, ante), and are still known as "the salt- 
pans ;" and " the land within the walls of Ratteburg" 
leads us to imagine that it was even then pretty 
clear of buildings, and devoted to pasture or cultiva- 
tion. Whether the " one capital messuage" was one 
of '* the houses of the Lady Isabella," afterwards 
mentioned, is doubtful. The Lady Isabella was the 
sister of Constance, wife of Elias de Beauchamp, one 
of the parties to the agreement. They were daughters 
and co-heirs of Walter de Bolbec. By the Pipe Boll 
of the second of Bichard I. (six years previous to the 

* Just seventy years previous to this date we find the names of 
Wulfin de Bocklande, Sirent filius Godwyne, and Wolfioyne filius 
Coke, amongst those of grave old men of good reputation, "de 
proviucie circa Sandwicum." — (Boys's Coll. p. 652.) 



48 A CORNER OP KENT. 

above agreement), we find that Earl Alberic de Yere* 
rendered account to the King of 500 marks for the 
daughter of "Walter de Bolbec, to give her to his, 
Alberic' s, son in marriage ; and by the Pipe 'Roll of 
the ninth of John, A.D. 1208, that Eobert de Yere 
gave the King 200 marks and three palfreys, to have 
Y[sabella] de Bolbec in marriage. The Lady Isabella 
then, about eleven years after the date of the Einal 
Concord, became the wife of Robert de Yere, after- 
wards third Earl of Oxford, and who died fifth of 
Henry III., 1221. Their son,, Hugh de Yere, fourth 
earl, was a minor at that period, and doing homage 
the fifteenth of Henry III., 1231, had livery of his 
paternal inheritance. His mother, Isabella, died 
twenty-ninth of the same reign, 1245, when he had 
also livery of the lands of her inheritance. Hugh 
died forty-seventh of Henry III., 1263, and was 
succeeded by his son:Bobert, fifth earl,t who died 
twenty-fourth of Edward I., 1297, when an inquisition 
was taken at Elect, and the jurors returned that he 
held the manor of '' Elete next Sandwich" of John, 

* This Alberic de Yere was the first husband of Beatrice, only- 
daughter and heir of Kose (or Sibilla, as she is sometimes called) de 
Guisnes and Henri Castellan de Bourbourg, and grand-daughter of 
Emma d'Arques, by her first husband Manasses Comte de Guisnes. 
Vide Chapter Y., in which the singular confusion existing in the 
genealogy of the De Yeres is examined, and an attempt made to 
reconcile the conflicting evidencCc 

t The editor of the Archseolog. Cant., in his remarks on the Final 
Concord, has confounded this Robert de Yere, fifth Earl, with his 
grandfather Robert, third Earl of Oxford. 



DESCENT OF THE MANORS. 49 

son of John de Sandwyco (Sandwich) by service of 
one knight's fee, and that there is a capital mes- 
suage, with the curtilage, dove-cot, and certain closes, 
worth 6s. Sd. per annum. That the rents of assize at 
Michaelmas are 24<s. Sd. ; at the Peast of St. Martin, 
74iS, 6^d. ; at the Eeast of the Purification, 22s. Sd. ; 
besides a rent at the Nativity of Our Blessed Lord of 
twenty-seven cocks, worth l^d. each, and forty-two 
hens, worth 2d. each. That there are eighty acres of 
arable land worth 2s. per acre per annum ; and 
315 acres of marsh land worth 1^. each per annum ; 
and that the sum total of the extent is £30. ISs. 6^d. 
Here we arrive at another curious and official descrip- 
tion of Meet in the reign of Ed wjj^ I., at whigh 
time the manor was held by the *Earl of Oxford of 
John, son of John de Sandwich, by his wife Agnes 
de Crevecoeur, eldest daughter and co-heir of Maud 
d^ Avranches, Lady of Eolkestone. He was, therefore, 
a collateral descendant of the Ruellinus d'Avranches 
who held the moiety of half a knight's fee in Eleet 
in 1197. John de Sandwich, the younger, died in 
1284, leaving an only daughter and heir, Juliana, 
aged eight, who, by her marriage with Sir John de 
Segrave, carried the barony of Eolkestone and other 
estates into that family. 

The manor of Eleet, however, held by the Earl 
of Oxford twenty-fourth of Edward L, was only one- 
half of the original manor, and was distinguished as 
Gurson Eleet, The other half was called Butler's 
Eleet, being held in the reign of King John by 

E 



50 A COHNEH OP KENT. 

Thomas Pincerna {i.e, Butler), a relative, no doubt, 
of the Archbishop Hubert, brother of Theobald 
"Walter, under whom he held it as half a knight's 
fee. 

To proceed, however, with 

GTOSON ELEET, 

so named from the farm of Gurson, now called Gus- 
ton, immediately adjoining that which has retained 
the name of Eleet. Kobert de Yere, sixth Earl of 
Oxford, surname d the Good, ^ who died third of 
Edward III., 1329, was found by the escheators of 
the king in that year to have been seized of this manor, 
still held of the family of Sandwich, as in the twentieth 
of the same reign, 1346, John, Earl of Oxford, and 
Nicholas, son of Thomas de Sandwich, were charged 
jointly to it for one knight's fee ; the said Thomas de 
Sandwich having before held it of the Archbishop. t 
The De Yeres continued to hold this manor to the 
end of the reign of Henry YI., when the venerable 
John de Yere, Earl of Oxford, and his eldest son, 

* His temperance was such that the commonalty accounted him a 
saint. By the inquisition just quoted, he was found to be twenty-four 
years of age at the death of his father Robert, in 1297. 

t A Fine Roll of the 3rd of Edward L, 1276, appears to indi- 
cate the period at which the family of Sandwich became holders of 
this manor. Thomas de Sandwich being then the plaintiff, and 
Robert de Crevecoeur and Isolda his wife, defendants, (fee, in Fleet by 
Sandwich, the right to which is recognized as belonging to the said 
Thomas de Sandwich and Johanna his wife, and the heir of the said 
Thomas. This heir was eventually the Sir Nicholas whom ^ye find 
holding it in 1346. 



DESCENT OF THE MANORS. 51 

Aubrey, for their attaclimeiit to the house of Lancas- 
ter, were attainted and afterwards beheaded on Tower 
Hill, first of Edward TV., and their estates forfeited 
to the Crown. The manor of Eleet was given to 
E;ichard, Duke of Gloucester, afterwards Richard IIT, 
by his brother. King Edward, in the second year of 
his reign; and after the battle of Bosworth and 
death of E^ichard, was, by King Henry VII., in the 
first year of his reign, restored to the family of De 
Yere, with the rest of their possessions. 

It is shortly after this period that we obtain some 
further information respecting the state of Eich- 
borough. Leland, who visited it in the reign of 
Henry YIII., quaintly describes it as follows : — 
*' Eatisburgh, otherwise Eichboro, was, or ever the 
river Sture did turn his botom or old canale withyn 
the isle of Thanet, and by lykilyhood the mayne se 
cam to the very foote of the castel. The mayne se is 
now of it a myle by reason of the woze (ooze) that 
hath there broken up. The site of the old town or 
castel ys wonderful fair upon an hill. The walls, the 
wych remain ther yet, be in compasse almost as much 
as the tower of London. They have been very hye, 
thycke, stronge, and well embatelled. The mater of 
them is flynt, mervelluss and long brykes, both white 
and redde, after the Britons' fashion. The sement 
was made of the sand and smaul pibles. There is 
lykelyhood that the goodly hill about the castel, and 
especially to Sandwich ward, hath been well inhabited. 
Corne groweth on the hill yn mervelus plenty ; and 

E 2 



52 A COENER OF KENT. 

yn going to plough there hath out of mynde (been) 
found, and now is, mo antiquities of Romayne mony 

then in any place els in England There is 

a good flyte shot of fro Eateshurgh toward Sandwich 
a great dyke, cast yn a round cumpas, as it had been 
for fens of menne of warre. The cumpase of the 
ground withyn is not much above an acre, and that 
is very holo by casting up of the yerth. They call the 
place ther Lytelborough. Withyn ye castel is a little 
paroche church of St. Augustine, and an hermitage. 
I had antiquities of the heremite, the which is an 
industrius man.* Not far fro the hermit ay ge is a 
cave, wher men have sowt and dygged for treasure. 
I saw yt by candel withyn, and there were conys. 
Yt was so straite {i. e. narrow) that I had no mynd 
to crepe far yn. In the north syde of the castel, 
ys a hedde in the walle, now sore defaced with 
wether. They cawle yt Queue Bertha hedde. t Neare 

* It appears there was a hermit at Reculver also at the close of 
the fifteenth century, of whom the name has descended to us. King 
Richard III., in the second year of his reign, granted a commission 
to " Thomas Hamond, Hermyte, of the chapel of St. James, being at 
our Lady of Eeculver, ordeyned for the sepulture of such persons as 
by casual tie of stormy or other misadventures were perished, to 
receive the alms of charitable people for the building of the roof of 
chapel fallen downe."— (Harl. MS. No. 433, 2,170.) There is an old 
Kentish family of the name of Hamond, or Hammond, of which the 
hermit was probably a member. Some of them afterwards possessed 
this manor of Elect. — Vide p. 55. 

t A piece of stone so designated is still to be seen in the wall 
near the postern gate, but with every trace of features completely 
obliterated. 



DESCENT OE THE MANORS. 53 

to that place, hard by the wal, was a pot of Eomayne 
mony found."* 

It is clear, from the above description, that there 
were still existing in Leland's time indications unmis- 
takable of a considerable population having resided 
between the castle of Richborough and Sandwich, 
and in Lowton (a group of cottages below the amphi- 
theatre towards Sandwich) we may probably distin- 
guish a suburb of the ancient Eitupis. The dyke 
called Littleborough was thought by Mr. Hasted to 
have been a Danish work of the 10th century ; but may 
it not have been the amphitheatre since discovered ?t 
The '^ little parish church" mentioned by Leland is 
thus recorded in the will of Sir John Saunders, preben- 
dary of Wingham, parson of Dymchurch, and vicar of 
Ash, dated August 14th, 1509 : — •" Item, I bequeath to 
the chapel of Richborough one portuys % printed, with 
a masse book that was Sir Thomas the old preste. 
Item, to the use of the said chapel 205. to make them 
a new windowe in the body of the church." On the 
eastern side, towards the cliff, were recently the ves- 
tiges of walls, certainly of mediaeval date, which were 
considered by Mr. Eoach Smith to be the remains of 
a chapel, and the adjoining spot, where portions of 
skeletons were discovered, appeared to have been the 
site of a burial-place attached to it.§ 

* "Itinerary," by Hearne, vol. vii. p. 128. 

+ Sucli seems to have been the opinion of Mr. Fussell. — Vide 
*' Journey round the Coast of Kent." 

X Portasse, a Breviary. § "Antiquit. of Eichborough," p. 47. 



54 A CORNER or KENT. 

This chapel, however, wherever it stood, was pro- 
bably erected on the site of the original Saxon 
church, which would scarcely have escaped demolition 
by the Danes, and subsequently to the reign of 
Richard I., as no mention of any such building 
occurs in the minute description of Richborough in 
the Pinal Concord we have quoted above. It is called 
both chapel and church in the will of Sir John 
Saunders, and appears to have been a chapel of ease 
to the church of Ash, for the few remaining inhabi- 
tants in this part of the parish, and is mentioned as 
such in the grant of the rectory of that church, 
in the third year of the reign of Edward VI., when it 
was still in existence ; soon after which, says Hasted, 
it probably fell to decay. And this leads us to 
another point of controversy amongst the antiquaries 
who have written on Richborough. The singular 
object now called St. Augustine's Cross has been by 
some thought to have marked the spot on which the 
chapel of St. Augustine once stood ; but Mr. Roach 
Smith dismisses the suggestion as untenable. We 
venture to express our opinion that it does not 
deserve to be disposed of so hastily. It by no means 
follows, because the mass of masonry beneath it was 
the foundation of some Roman structure, that after 
the demolition of such structure a chapel might not 
be built upon it. The very cruciform appearance it 
presented (and which we have endeavoured to 
account for in the former chapter), would have 
favoured its selection in the eyes of the founders. 



DESCENT or THE MANOES. 65 

Nor need the size (42 feet by 34, and 30 by 8) be 
urged as an objection, as chapels may be found as 
small. Bonchurch, in the Isle of Wight, is scarcely, 
if any, bigger. And it was not imperative to limit 
the building to the exact proportions of the cross, 
which might have formed a remarkable feature within 
it. We by no means insist on such being the fact ; 
we only object to the positive assertion to the contrary 
on such grounds as are given for it. 

To return to the descent of this manor. In the 
reign of Elizabeth, Edward de Yere, Earl of Oxford 
(Philipot says Jolm, who died fourth of Elizabeth) 
alienated the manor of Gurson Elect to Ham- 
mond, in which family it continued till the reign of 
Charles II., when it was sold by them to the Rev. T. 
Turner, D,D., who died possessed of it in 1672. In 
1748 it was purchased of his descendant by Dr. John 
Lynch, Dean of Canterbury, whose son. Sir William 
Lynch, K.B., died possessed of it in 1785, and 
bequeathed it, with all the rest of his estates, to his 
widow. Lady Lynch, who was the possessor in the 
time of Hast^. Erom the family of Lynch it passed 
to that of Brockman, of whom, in 1833, it was pur- 
chased by the late Mr. Thomas Coleman, who, in 
1845, sold it to the Marchioness Dowager of Conyng- 
ham, who, dying October 11th, 1861, bequeathed it, 
with other property in this parish, to her eldest son, 
the present Marquis of Conyngham. 

The site of Bichborough Castle, however, seems 
to have been reserved in the sale of the manor to 



56 A CORNER OP KENT. 

Hammond, and passed to the family of Grant ; thence 
to that of Thurbarne, of Sandwich ; and from thence 
by marriage, with other property in this parish, to 
Colonel Edward E^ivett, whose son, John Rivett, Esq., 
conveyed it in 1750 to Mr. Josias Earrer, of Doctors' 
Commons, London. His son, Josiah EuUer Earrer, 
Esq., sold the whole estate, with the site of Kich- 
borough Castle and other lands and premises adjoining, 
in 1781, to Peter Eector, Esq., of Dover. In the deed 
of conveyance is this description : — ^' And also all 
those walls and ruins of the antient Castle of Ruter- 
pinum, now known by the name of E;ichborongh 
Castle, with the scite of the antient port and city of 
E^uterpinum, being on and near the lands above 
mentioned." 

The other portion of the manor of Elect was 
distinguished as early as the reign of Henry III. by 
the name of 

butler's tleet, 

from Thomas Pincerna, or le Boteler (?), its tenant 
under the Archbishop of Canterbury, and of his manor 
of Wingham^ in the reign of King Jotyp.. That this 
Thomas Pincerna was of the family of Theobald 
Walter Butler, ancestor of the Earls of Ormond, and 
brother of Hubert, Archbishop of Canterbury, under 
whom he held the manor, can scarcely be doubted. 
His successor, Eobert Pincerna, left three sons — 
Eobert, called le Boteler, Thomas, and William, a 
priest. John, son and heir of Eobert, temp. Edward I., 
married Anne, daughter of Hanbury, and had 



DESCENT OF THE MANORS. 57 

issue by her John le Boteler, living temp, Edward III., 
in the twentieth of whose reign the heir of E^ohert 
le Boteler answered for half a knis^ht's fee which 
E/obert le Boteler had previously held in Pleet of 
the Archbishop, and which was at that time held 
by William Lord Latimer, of Corbie, knight, and 
Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports ; and from him 
the name of the manor was changed to 

LATIMEll's ELEET. 

Elizabeth, his sole daughter and heir, married 
John Lord Nevil of Baby, w^hose son John bore 
the title of Lord Latimer, having been knighted at 
Leicester by the King himself, and summoned to 
Parliament as Lord Latimer from the sixth of 
Henry lY. to the ninth of Henry VI. inclusive, 
in which year he died, and the greatest part of his 
inheritance came to Balph Lord Neville, first Earl 
of Westmoreland, his eldest but half-brother, to 
whom he had sold the reversion, at his decease, 
of the barony of Latimer. The Earl vested it, 
together with this manor and much of the above- 
mentioned inheritance, in his younger son, George 
Neville, who was accordingly summoned to Parlia- 
ment as Lord Latimer, tenth of Henry YL, as 
" George de Latimer, Chevalier." His son. Sir 
Henry Neville, was slain at Edgecote Eield, near 
Banbury, ninth of Edward lY., and Lord Latimer 
died shortly afterwards in the same year, an idiot, 
his lands being in the custody of his nephew, 



58 A CORNEE OF KENT. 

E^icliard Nevil, Earl of Warwick, the ^' King- 
maker." He was succeeded by his grandson, 
Eichard, son of Sir Henry, killed at Edgecote ; and 
he, in the same reign, alienated this manor, which 
had now acquired, from its last possessors, the 
name of 

nevil's fleet, 

to Sir James Cromer, Knight. His grandson. Sir 
William Cromer, in the eleventh of Henry YIL, 
sold it to John Isaak, of Westbere, son of James 
Isaak, of Hode, and Elizabeth, daughter and heir 

of Cundy, Yice-Admiral to King Henry YII. 

Erom John Isaak it passed to Kendall, and he, 

in the beginning of the reign of Henry YIIL, sold it 
to Sir John Eogg, of Eepton, near Ashford, Knight, 
who died possessed of it in 1533. His son, of the 
same name, parted with it to Mr. Thomas Eolfe, 
and he shortly afterwards to Stephen Hougham, 
of Ash, gentleman, who, by his will, dated 20th 
of November, 1555, and proved 23rd of March 
following, devised to his youngest son, Richard 
Hougham, of Eastry, all his rents, suit, and service 
of his manor of Neville's Elect, and a piece of 
meadow called Swallow's Brook, lying in Ash, 
which he lately purchased of Thomas Eolfe, 
junior, John Brooke, of Ash, nephew of Stephen 
Hougham, also gave ^' certain lands, parcel of the 
manor of Nevil's Elect" to John, son of Hichard 
Hougham, his godson, by will proved Eeb- 



DESCENT OF THE MANORS. 59 

ruary 7th, 1582. From the Houghams it seems to 
have passed to Sir Adam Spracklyn, Knight, who, 
according to Hasted, sold it to one of the family 
of Septvans, alias Harfleet,^ in which it continued 
till shortly after the reign of King Charles I., when 
it went, he tells us, by a female heir, Elizabeth, 
in marriage, to Thomas Kitchell, Esq. We have 
not been successful in identifying this Elizabeth in 
any of the multifarious pedigrees of the Harfleets;* 
but an Elizabeth Harfleet was married to Thomas 
Kitchell, at St. Mary Bredin's Church, Canterbury, 
in 1652. t According to Hasted also, the heirs 
of Kitchell alienated the manor, about 1720, to 
Mr. Thomas Bambridge, warder of the Eleet Prison, 
London (a singular association of localities) ; upon 
whose death it became vested in his heirs-at-law, 
Mr. James Bambridge, of the Inner Temple, London, 
and another Thomas Bambridge, who divided the 
estate, the latter parting with his portion to 

* Henry Harfleet^ soa of Henry Harfleet and Mary Slaughter, 
married secondly Bennedetta Hougliam, March 26th, 1629 (Ash 
Eegisters), by whom he does not appear to have had any issue. His 
first wife was Dorcas, daughter of Joshua Pordage, of Sandwich, by 
whom he had nine children. 

+ Additional MSS. Brit. Mus., l^o. 5507. The Harfleets had lands 
in Fleet as early as the fifteenth century, but they were in the other 
portion, called Gurson Fleet, as is clear from the will of Thomas, 
who died 1559, and bequeathed to his son Christopher his "lease in 
the manor of Flete next Sandwich, being of the inheritance of the 
Earl of Oxford^' which Nevil's Fleet was not. A branch of the 
Harfleets continued to reside at Fleet to the end of the seventeenth 
century. 



60 A CORNEE OF KENT. 

Mr. Peter Moulson, of London. His only daughter 
and heir carried it in marriage to Mr. George 
Yanghan, of London, and he and the assignees 
of Mr. James Bambridge, last mentioned, conveyed 
the whole fee of the manor to Mr. Joseph Solly, 
of Sandwich, the owner in Hasted's time, and 
in whose family it continued till 1846, when it was 
purchased by the late Mr. Thomas Coleman, of 
Gurson, for the Marchioness Dowager of Conyng- 
ham, who devised it by will, together with Gurson 
Meet, to her eldest son, the present marquis. 

GOSHALL. 

The origin of the name of this manor has not been 
made a subject of inquiry or speculation. In early 
documents it is spelt indifferently Goshall, Gosehaule, 
Goshale, and Gozehale ; but no inference can safely 
be drawn from the arbitrary orthography of the 
Middle Ages. In the reign of the Conqueror we 
find it held by a knight named Arnoldus, of the gift 
of Archbishop Lanfranc, who, by the same charter 
we have quoted concerning Pleet,* gives the tithes of 
the manors of Goshall and Golston to the church 
of St. Gregory in Canterbury. In the record which 
Dr. Somner calls Domesday, an Arnoldus — probably 
the same — holds, in conjunction with Wibertus, three 
sulings of the archbishop, of the manor of AYingham, 
valued at £12. As early as the eighth of Henry III., 

* Dugdale, '-'Mon. Ang." vol. ii. p. 373. 



DESCENT OE THE MANOUS. 61 

A.D. 1224, we find a Eanulph. de Gosehaule holding 
land under the Archbishop of Canterbury ;* and by a 
fine roll, seventeen years later, it appears to have 
been a knight's fee and a half in Goshall ; that 
E^anulph was then dead, and his son and heir Walter 
in possession of it.f But about the same period there 
was another and much more important person con- 
nected with Goshall, though we have not yet been 
able to ascertain the exact nature of his tenure. This 
was Sir John Maunsel or Mansel, one of the secular 
clergy, the great favourite of Henry III., who heaped 
preferment upon him until at last his annual income 
is said to have amounted to more than 4,000 marks, 
" besides 700 which he had accumulated ;" insomuch, 



^■" "P. dno Cantuar. 'Rex Yic Kaiic salt. Monst'vit no'b S. Can- 
tuar ArcH qd tu ^a Eann de Gosehaule q est de feodo suo T maD-Q 
tua cepisti eo qd cuilz Yic de novo costituto dari cosuevit dun marc 
de ?ra ilia ut dicis. Et io t^ pcipimus qd si ita est pdem feodu dno 
Cantuar i pace dimittas inq sup pxim copotu tiiu ad sa'cm nrm ad 
instans festu sci Micli ut tuc cora fidelibz de cosilio nro vitas inde pleni 
in^at^ q^ inqisita qd justti fait statuat. T. E. ap. Bed. xxxj die 
Jut"— Kot. Glaus. 8th Henry III., 1224. 

From a charter cited in p. 84, it would appear that this Ranulf 
was the son of a Eobert de Gosehaule. 

t "P. WalK de Gosehal. Mandatum est Custodibz Archifpat' 
Cantuar ql accepta secitate a Walto de Gosehal iilio t hede Eanulfi 
de Gosehal' qui tenuit feed uni' militis t dimid en ptin in Gosehal' de 
vij libi 't X. sol p quos Sne fecit cum P p serviio suo t de alio svicio 
si quod inde R debet de omibuz tris t tenementis que ipsom Walt 
heditar ctlngt 't de quibz id Ranulf fuit seisit' ut de feodo die quo 
obiit eidem Walt"o sesma hrVfac. T. P. apud Windles xvj die Marc." — 
Pine Poll, 25th of Henry III., A.D. 1241. 



62 A CORNER OF KENT. 

says the old chronicler,^ that there was not a clerk 
found so wealthy as he. Parson of Maidstone in 
Kent, of Hoveden (Howden), co. York, and of Wigan, 
CO. Lancaster, Treasurer of the church of York, Chan- 
cellor of St. Paul's, London, Provost of Beverley, 
Chief Justice of England, a privy councillor, chaplain 
to the king, and Keeper of the Great Seal ; to these 
multifarious offices and duties were added, in 1254, 
the appointment of Ambassador to the court of Spain, 
on the occasion of the marriage of Edward, the king's 
son, to Eleanor, daughter of Alphonso, King of Cas- 
tile ; whence he brought back with him a charter 
sealed with gold, by which King Alphonso, for himself 
and his heirs, renounced to the king of England all 
claim to the province of Gascony. He was also asso- 
ciated with the Earl of Gloucester on a special mis- 
sion to Germany, and was sent with other persons of 
distinction to attend the parliament in Paris. "With 
all this, he was a valiant soldier. He took prisoner 
the High Steward of Boulogne in the great battle 
between the Erench and English at Saintoigne in 
1242, and was w^ounded severely the following year 
in an action before the monastery of Yerines, in Gas- 
cony, by a stone flung from the walls, which crushed 
his leg, and caused him a long and serious illness, but 
increased his favour still more with the king, who 
bestowed most abu.ndant revenues upon him, and 
whose will he witnessed in 1253. t Li 1258, he 

* Matthew Paris. t "Ptjmeri Foecleraj" vol. i. pars I. 



DESCENT OF THE MANOUS. 63 

founded the Priory of Bilsington, in the hundred of 
Newchurch, Romney Marsh, having purchased part of 
the manor of Bilsington of the heirs of Hugh de 
Albany, Earl of Arundell, and bestowed upon it all 
his portion of the manor, and his whole land of Poire 
Gozeliale, and Eeche (Ash), making one William the 
first prior thereof.* In 1262 he had charge of the 
Tower of London, from which he took flight clandes- 
tinely in 1264, in order to escape from the fury of the 
rebellious barons. This is the last we hear of him 
in the history of the period ; and it appears he died 
in the course of that year, " the richest man in the 
world," says Matthew Paris, ''according to report." 
As an instance of his wealth, the following circum- 
stance is related by the same chronicler, under the 
date 1256, and on the occasion of the visit of Alex- 
ander, King of Scotland, and his queen to King 
Henry III. 

" When the king (Henry) approached London, his 
eldest son, Edward, with many other nobles, went 
to meet him, and the city was decorated in honour 
of the arrival of the great personages expected; 
for there were present the King and Queen of 
England, the King and Queen of Scotland, Edward, 
and a large number of nobles and prelates. On the 
festival of St. Augustine the Teacher, John Mansel 
asked permission to entertain all the noble guests on 
the morrow, which request was granted to him. He 

* ''Mon. Ang." vol. ii. p. 333. 



64 A COENEE, or KENT. 

therefore invited to a magnificent dinner the kings of 
England and Scotland, and all the earls, barons, and 
knights, English as well as Scotch ; also the Bishop 
of London, and a great many of the citizens. So 
numerous, indeed, were his guests, that his house at 
Totliale ^ was not capable of holding them all : and 
he caused some large and regal pavilions to be pitched 
for the accommodation of the guests. Those who 
partook of this feast were so many in number that 
seven hundred dishes were scarcely sufficient for the 
first course of it; and never at any time was any 
prelate known to be able to provide such a rich and 
abundant feast, for all were supplied with an abun- 
dance of every kind of luxury" (page 931). 

Of the family of this Wolsey of the fourteenth 
century nothing has been handed down to us on which 
we can rely. A Philip de Maunsel, son of Philip 
Arbalistarius and Mabel de Erlegh, appears to have 
married a daughter of the Sir Hugh de Auberville 
who died fourteenth of John (1213). If Sir John 
Maunsel was the son of Henry, the elder brother of 
this Philip, as set down by some genealogists, his 
connection with the Aubervilles might account for his 
possession of property in this corner of Kent, where, 
by their intermarriage with the families of Sandwich 
and Criol, so much land must have been owned or 
occupied by their collaterals ; but he is also said to 

* A manor then in the possession of Sir John Maunsel, afterwards 
popularly known as Tothill Fields, Westminster. 



DESCENT OF THE MANORS. 65 

have married Joan, tlie daughter of Simon de Beau- 
champ, of Bedford (from this marriage Collins and 
Banks derive the family of Lord Mansell of Margam) ; 
and here we come upon another family, holding in 
the immediate vicinity, jointly with that of Avran- 
ches, in the reign of B/ichard I. He may, however, 
have acquired his estates in this parish hy purchase, 
as he did that of Bilsington. Some of them even- 
tually passed into the possession of the family of 
Sandwich ; but the Gosh alls continued to hold their 
own portion of that particular manor for some 
considerable period. We have seen that Walter 
de Goshall succeeded his father, Banulph, in 1241. 
He was living in the 37th of that reign, A.D. 1253, 
when a final concord was entered into between him 
and Bichard de Hagshebye, respecting sixty acres 
of land in Ash. After which, eighth of Edward I., 
1280, we find a Henry de Gosehale entering into an 
agreement with Alan Tyte about lands at Cotmanton, 
in Ash. The next of that name we meet with is 
Sir John de Goshall, who in the reign of Edward I. 
accounted to the Archbishop for two knight's fees he 
held under him at Goshall. He was living in the 
34th of that king's reign, A.D. 1306, when he had 
a suit with one Peter Lincoln, respecting some 
lands in Ash. (Einal Concord, sub anno.) He was 
succeeded by Henry de Goshall in or before the 6th 
of Edward XL, 1313, who married Margaret, daughter 
of Sir Thomas, and sister of Nicholas de Sandwich. 
This Henry was seized of Goshall in the 18th of 

r 



68 A CORNER OF KENT. 

Edward 11., and was associated with Henry de Cob- 
liam, 6th of August, 1824, as supervisor in the parts of 
East Kent, of the general array of the kingdom against 
the invasion threatened by the King of Erance.* He 
was dead in the 7th Edward III., 1335, leaving four 
sons,t the eldest of whom, John de Goshall, resided 
here in the reign of Edward III., in the 20th of 
whose reign, A.D. 1346, the Lady Goshall, who was 
late wife of Sir John de Goshall, paid aid for one 
knight's fee and a half which he had held at Goshall 
and Goldstanton of the Archbishop. 

A third John de Goshall appears to have attained 
his majority in the following year ; J and at the same 
time we meet with a notice of a Walter de Goshall, 
who had a suit against Thomas de Podding for the 
manor of Clivesend, in the Isle of Thanet.§ In 
1369, Elizabeth Goshall is returned as seized of 
lands in Goshall, Wingham, Preston, Goldstanton, 
Overland, Elmstone, Whelmstone, and Helles ; 1| and 
acquittances and charters are extant in which she is 



'^ Ryiner's " Fc&dera,'' vol. iv. p. 78 ; and on the 22nd of September 
with Thomas de Sandwich as guardians of the ports and coasts of 
Kent during the absence of the fleets. 

t John, Henry, Walter, and Robert : the last three were under age 
in 1335. From a charter of Walter there appears to have been 
another brother, named Thomas, who died vit. Patris, leaving no issue 
by his wife Beatrice. Vide Chajiter V. 

X Kot. Pat. 21st Edward III., pars I. Fine for the manor of 
Goldston. 

§ Rot. Pat. 21st Edward III., 1347. 
• II Inquisition iwst mortem, 43rd Edward III. 



DESCENT OF THE MANORS. 67 

described as Elizabeth, '^ qui fuit uxor Johannes de 
Gosehale," as late as the 2nd of Richard II., 1379. 
Shortly after which time. Gosh all appears to have 
passed by a female heir, Elizabeth, in marriage, to 
Thomas St. Nicholas.* Eoger St. Nicholas, who died 
in 1484, left a sole daughter and heir, Elizabeth, who 
conveyed Goshall to her husband, John Dynely, of 
Charlton, co. Worcester, Esq. His eldest son, Henry, 
alienated it about the middle of Queen Elizabeth's 
reign, to John Roper, of Linsted, co. Sussex, Esq., 
who was afterwards knighted, and, 14th James I., 
A.D. 1616, created Baron of Teynham. In his de- 
scendants it remained till 1705, when Henry, Lord 
Teynham, conveyed the estate to trustees for the use 
of Sir Henry Eurnesse of Waldershare, Bart., who in 
1708 settled it on his son Bobert on his marriage with 
Anne, daughter of Anthony Balam, Esq. Sir Bobert 
died in 1733, leaving by his second wife, the Lady 
Arabella Watson, a son Henry, who survived his 
father only a short time, dying under age and un- 
married, in 1735, when the estates, being divided 
according to the limitations in his grandfather's will, 
the manor of Goshall, with the mansion, lands, and 
appurtenances belonging to it, was allotted by a writ 
of partition, confirmed by Act of Parliament ninth 
of George IL, 1737, to Selina, daughter and co-heir 
of Sir Bobert Eurnesse. This lady married Edward 
Bering, of Surrenden, Esq., afterwards Sir Edward 

* Vide Chapter V. 
F 2 



68 A CORNER OF KENT. 

Dering, Bart., who sold Goshall in 1779 to Peter 
Eector, of Dover, Esq. His son, John Minet Pector, 
resold it in 1835 to the late Mr. Thomas Coleman, of 
Gurson, from whom it was conveyed in 184i5 to the 
Dowager Marchioness of Conyngham. Her lady- 
ship, who deceased Oct. 11, 1861, bequeathed it, with 
other estates in this parish, to her eldest son, the 
present Marquis of Conyngham, of whom the land 
is now rented by Mr. Thomas Coleman, of Gurson, 
son of the former proprietor. 

GOLDSTON, 

otherwise Goldstanton,* was, together with Goshall, 
granted, as we have already stated, by Archbishop 
Lanfranc to one Arnold, or Arnoldus, and in 1202 
(fourth of John) we find a E^obert de Goldstanton, 
who, in a recognizance of " mort d' ancestor," acknow- 
ledges twenty-five acres in Goldstaneston, *' cum 
pertinentiis," to be held by William Pitz- Arnold and 
his heirs for ever of the said Robert and his heirs, 

'^ Originally, perhaps, Goldstan's Town, from some Saxon pro- 
prietor. In a plea held at Sandwich in 1127, by command of 
Henry II., concerning the toll and custom of Sandwich haven, we 
find one of the twelve jurors, "King's men of Dover," named 
'' Goldstan filius Brunig," whom it is not too wild a speculation 
to imagine a descendant of the old Saxon stock in Ash, as the 
whole twenty-four persons selected from Dover and the vicinity 
of Sandwich are particularly said to have been all grave old 
men and of good reputation : — " Yiginti quatuor maturi sapientes 
sanes multorum mannorum bonum testimonium habentes." — (Bojrs's 
Collections.) And the above date is only sixty-one years after 
the Conquest. 



DESCENT or THE MANORS. 69 

by the payment of half a marc per annum in lieu 
of all service except '' forinsec " {i. e., extraordinary 
military service). Prom the particular nature of 
this document there can scarcely be a doubt that 
the immediate descendants of Lanfranc's original 
grantee, Arnoldus, were still living on their paternal 
estate at the commencement of the reign of King 
John. The manor is found in the possession of 
the family of Goshall, Sir John de Goshall being 
recorded, temp. Edward I., as holding of the Arch- 
bishop two knight's fees in Goldstanton and Goshall, 
and we have little doubt that the E^obert de Gold- 
stanton of 1202 is identical with the E/obert de 
Goshall who was dead in 1224. A division of this 
property appears to have been subsequently made, 
as in the twentieth of Edward III., Walter, son of 
Henry de Gosehale, Knight, gave by his charter, 
dated 12th of January in that year, a third part of 
the manor of Goldstanton, with its appurtenances, 
which Beatrice, the widow of his late brother, Thomas 
de Gosehale, held in dower, to John de Gosehale, 
Knight, and Elizabeth his wife. — (Harleian Charters, 
Brit. Mus., 78 D, 32.) In the same book of the 
fees held of the Archbishop, William de Leyghe is 
said to hold half a fee in Elmes, otherwise Nell, a 
place about half a mile distant from Goldston House, 
to the manor of which it seems formerly to have 
been an appendage, and on the aid paid the 20th of 
Edward III., Anne, late wife of William de Leyghe, 
is charged with one quarter of a fee, which the said 



70 A CORNEH OP KENT. 

William before held of the Archbishop, in Elmes or 
Ash.* 

Simultaneously with the Goshalls and the Leyghes 
the great family of Leybourne had some property 
in this manor. Harris says that, in the fiftieth year 
of the reign of Henry III. (1266), this manor was in 
the possession of Sir Robert (Roger) de Leybourne ; 
and it was certainly brought in marriage by his grand- 
daughter Juliana to her third husband, William de 
Clinton, Earl of Huntingdon, who, in the twenty- 
eighth of Edward III., appears by the Escheat Rolls 
to have died without issue, t seized of the manor of 
Goldstanton, leaving his nephew, Sir John Clinton, 
his heir, in whose descendants it continued till the 
reign of Henry IV., when it passed from one of 
them to Richard Clitherow, Sheriff of Kent, fourth 
and fifth of Henry IV., and in the seventh of the 
same reign appointed Admiral of the Seas from the 
Thames westward. By his wife, the daughter of Sir 
John Oldcastle, he left a son, Roger Clitherow, one 
of the warriors at Agincourt, who by his wife, 

* Amongst the Harleian cliarters are several acquittances for rent 
for the manor of Elmes or Nelmes, in Eshe juxta Sandwich, from 
Elizabeth Domina de Goshall to another William de Legh and other 
persons, of various dates, from the 44th of Edward III. to the 
1st of Richard II. ; and two similar documents are amongst the 
charters of Combewell Priory, preserved in the College of Arms. 

t Segur, however, in a note in his MS. Baronage, a most valuable 
recent addition to the library of the College of Arms, says that he 
found Elizabeth, wife of Sir John Fitz- William, of Sprotsburgh, 
CO. York, "to be a daughter of this Earl of Huntingdon."— 
Vol. i. p. 260. 



DESCENT OF THE MAKOHS. 71 

Matilda, left three daughters and co-heirs. The 
eldest, Alianor, married John Norris, who had with 
her this manor ; and his son and heir, John, was in 
ward by reason of his nonage, at the time of his 
father's death, ninth of Edward lY. His descendant, 
William Norris, of Ash, gentleman, died possessed of 
it second of Henry VII. (1487), without issue by 
Anne, his wife, and was succeeded by his younger 
brother, John, who alienated it to John Lord 
Clinton, who, in the sixth of Henry YIII., died 
seized of the manors of Goldstanton and Lee, alias 
Elmes, leaving Thomas Lord Clinton his son and 
heir. This nobleman died two years afterwards, of 
that fatal disorder called '' the sweating sickness," 
which swept off many distinguished personages at 
that period. His son and heir, Edward, was then 
an infant, but afterwards became one of the most 
eminent men of the age, and in the thirtieth of 
Henry YIIL, by the title of Lord Clinton and Saye, 
he, with Elizabeth his wife, conveyed the manor of 
Goldstanton, with all other his estates in this parish, 
to Thomas Lord Cromwell, afterwards Earl of Essex, 
on whose attainder, only two years after, it came 
into the hands of the Crown. In the thirty-fourth 
year of his reign, Henry YIIL granted the manor 
of Goldston, alias Goldstanton, with the manor of 
Lees, alias Nells, in Ash, Winsborough (Woodens- 
borough), and Wingham, to Yincent Engham, Esq., 
to hold "in capite," and his son Thomas had seizing 
of this estate fifth of Elizabeth. He bequeathed it to 



72 A COENEU OP KENT. 

his son Thomas, afterwards Sir Thomas Engham, of 
Goodneston (now Gunston), Knight, who, at the latter 
end of Qaeen Elizabeth's reign, alienated it to Mr. 
Conrcelis, of London, who sold it to Sir William Wilde, 
Bart., one of the Justices of the King's Bench, in the 
reign of Charles II., and Recorder of London and 
M.P. for the City in 1660. He died 1679, and was 
buried in the Temple Church, London, haying settled 
these manors in tail male on the issue of his second 
wife, Erances Lady Wilde, who resided at Goldston 
in her widowhood, and died possessed of it in 1719. On 
the death, in 1731, of the widow of her son, William 
Wilde, Esq., who held it in jointure, the manor de- 
volved to the only daughter of Sir Eelix Wilde, the 
eldest son of Sir William by his first wife, " Eleanor, 
daughter of Sir Thomas Twisden, the Judge,"* and 
the three daughters and co-heirs of William, his son 
by his second wife, Erances ; and they continued joint 
owners of the undivided estate till the twenty-seventh 
of George II., 1754. In that year an Act of Parlia- 
ment was passed to divide it and apportionate it in 
six parts, according to articles of agreement entered 
into by the several parties concerned. Three of the 
six parts, or one moiety of the whole, were allotted 
to Nicholas Toke, of Godington, Esq., in right of 
Eleanor, his wife, sole daughter and heir of John 
Cockman, M.D., by Anne (or Margaret), daughter 
and sole heir of Sir Eelix Wilde, above mentioned. 

* Streatfield's MS. ^' She died 1689." 



DESCENT OP THE MANORS. 73 

This moiety consisted of the manor of Goldston, with 
the Court Baron, and its rights and appurtenances, 
and a farm called Goldston Parm, containing 220 
acres of land. The other three parts were allotted, 
first, to Eobert Colebrooke, of Chillam Castle, Esq., 
whose father, James, had purchased Upper Goldston 
Parm of William Beaudon, Esq., husband of Erances, 
eldest daughter and co-heir of Mr. William Wilde 
aforesaid ; second, Lower Goldston Earm, containing 
the mansion of Goldston House, with the lands, 126 
acres, garden, lodge, and moat, and several other 
premises in Ash, to John Masters, in right of his 
wife Margaret, second daughter and co-heir of 
William Wilde ; third, consisting of divers premises 
in Ash, to Anna and Maria Herenden, co-heirs of 
Thomas Herenden, of Eltham, surgeon, by Eliza- 
beth his wife, third daughter and co-heir of 
William Wilde. The manor of Goldston remains 
still in the family of Toke of Goddington, descended 
from Ejobert de Toke, who was present with Henry III. 
at the battle of Northampton, 1264d, and was also 
ancestor of the Tokes of Bere, in Westcliffe and 
other places in the counties of Cambridge, Dorset, 
and Hertford. Its present representative in Kent 
and owner of this manor, is Nicholas Toke, of 
Goddington, Esq. 

Upper Goldston Earm was sold in 1775 to Robert 
Heron, of Chillam Castle, Esq., from whom it passed 
to Eogg and others, and then to Brown, of Ash, who 
alienated it, in 1788, to Mr. John Alexander, of God- 



74 A CORNER OF KENT. 

mersham, the possessor in Hasted's time, who had 
married Jane, daughter of Henry Brown, of Ash. It 
is now the property of Mr. Delmar, of Canterbury. 

Lower Goldston Earm was sold by Mr. John Tur- 
ner, of Ash, surgeon, grandson of Mr. John Masters 
(and who was the owner in Hasted's time), to Mr. 
Delmar. This has been since resold in portions, and 
the principal proprietor is now Mr. Chandler. The 
mansion of Goldston, which was the residence of 
Mr. Thomas Jull, second husband of Elizabeth 
Masters, was pulled down some few years ago. 

OVERLAND. 

Of this manor,* situated in a borough of the same 
name, about a mile and a half north-west from Ash 
church, we have as yet found no record previou.s to 
the reign of Henry III., when, as Hasted has stated, 
it was held of the Archbishop by the eminent family 
of Criol or Keriel, having been granted by that king, 
in the twenty-fifth year of his reign, to Bertram de 
Criol, Warden of the Cinque Ports, and Constable of 
Dover Castle, who, from his large possessions in this 
county, was called the Great Lord of Kent, from whose 
heirs it passed, in the following reign of Edward I., 
into the family of Leybourne'; and William, son of 
Roger de Leybourne, died seized of it in the second 

''' The name of this manor is evidently derived from the high land 
of which it is composed, and which formerly was the shore (Ofer, 
A.-S.) of the sea which covered the marsh beneath it, and was bounded 
on the other side by the Isle of Thanet. 



DESCENT OE THE MANOES. 75 

year of the reign of Edward II., A.D. 1328, leaving 
liis grand- daughter Juliana, the daughter of his son 
Thomas, who died in his lifetime, his next heir. This 
lady, the heiress not only of her paternal grandfather, 
'' the Great Lord of Kent," but of her maternal great- 
grandfather. Sir Ralph de Sandwich,* was, with equal 
felicity, styled " the Infanta of Kent." Hasted says 
" she married three husbands, and yet died childless, 
her vast estates escheating to the Crown, it appearing 
that no one could be found to make claim to her 
property even by a collateral alliance." Such, how- 
ever, is not exactly the case, although the assertion 
is apparently borne out by the fact that the lands 
were seized by the Crown ; and that this manor of 
Overland remained in it until E^ichard II. bestowed 
it on Sir Simon de Barley, K.G., Lord Warden of the 
Cinque Ports. It is singular so little should be 
known of this celebrated heiress, first the wife of 
John de Hastings, Lord Bergavenny ; secondly, of 
Thomas le Blunt; and thirdly, of Sir William de 
Clinton, a younger brother of Lord Clinton of Max- 
toke, ancestor of Lord Clinton and Say, and of the 

* Sir Kalph, hy his wife Juliana (Peyforer ?), had a daughter of 
the same name, who married William de Leybourne. She survived 
her husband, and died ante second of Edward III. Juliana, relicta 
W™i (de Leybourne) tenuit messuagium et 40 acras terri cum ptni in 
Overlande de Archipatu Cantuar. Juliana defunct 2nd Edward III. — 
(Originalia, 2, 17.) In the close Roll of the 1st of Edward III. 
she is stated to be the heir of Kalph de Sandwich. Juliana de 
Leybourne, daughter of her son Thomas^ was born 32nd Edward I., 
1304. 



76 A CORNER OE KENT. 

present Duke of Newcastle. By this fortunate mar- 
riage Sir William attained great honours, and was 
raised by King Edward III. to the title and dignity 
of Earl of Huntingdon. Upon Ms decease, twentieth 
Edward III.,* Juliana, for the third time a widow, 
became again possessed of this and others of her 
estates, and died in the forty-first of the same reign, 
1367, but not under the strange circumstances above 
mentioned. She had issue by her first husband a 
son named Lawrence, born thirteenth of Edward II., 
who succeeded his father as Lord Bergavenny, and 
was created Earl of Pembroke. His son John, Lord 
Hastings, second Earl of Pembroke, died in 1375, 
leaving a son John under age, and ward of the king. 
This young nobleman being accidentally killed in a 
tournament at Windsor, fifteenth of Richard II., 1392, 
while still a minor, all the estates to which he was 
heir of course escheated to the crown, and it was on 
this occasion that his great-grandmother Juliana, 
who had preceded him to the grave some five-and- 
twenty years, was found to have no surviving kindred, 
either direct or collateral. Becent inquiries have 
also resulted in the discovery that it was through her 
great-grandmother, also named Juliana, wife of Sir 
Simon de Sandwich, that a considerable portion of 
the property must have descended. Who «A^ was has 

'^ He is stated by the jurors to have died seized of Folkestone 
Villa, Goldstanton in Ash Villa, Wingham Villa, St. Nicholas Villa, 
Isle of Thanet, Preston, Elmstone, Overland, and Sandwich Villa. — 
Escheat, 28th Edward III. 



DESCENT OF THE MANORS. 77 

still to be ascertained. It is probable, however, 
that she was the daughter of Eulk Peyforer, and 
perhaps of the blood of Crevecoeur, as some of the 
estates are found to haye been held hj an early an- 
cestor of that family. Sir Simon de Burley being 
attainted of treason in the tenth year of E^ichard II., 
1387, he was found guilty and beheaded, and was 
buried in St. Paul's Cathedral. The manor of Over- 
land became again vested in the Crown, and was 
subsequently granted to the Priory of Canons, alias 
Chiltern Langley, co. Herts. 

On the suppression of that house, thirtieth of 
Henry VIII., it came into the king's hands, and was 
granted, with the priory and other estates belonging 
to it, to Eichard, Bishop Suffragan of Hover, for his 
life, or till he should be promoted to some ecclesias- 
tical benefice of the yearly value of £100, which had 
not occurred before the thirty-sixth year of that 
reign, as the king then granted the reversion of this 
and other manors to Sir Thomas Moyle, Knight, and 
Walter Hendley, his Attorney-General, who was after- 
wards knighted ; the latter of whom died seized of the 
manor of Overland, sixth of Edward YI., leaving 
three daughters and co-heirs, — Elizabeth, married to 
George Eane ; Helen, to Thomas Colepepper ; and 

Anne, wife of Covert, who joined in the sale of 

it in the following year to Simon Lynch, of Staple, 
gentleman. Erom Lynch it passed through the fami- 
lies of Gybbs, Harfleet, Bargrave, and Solly, by sale, 
before the end of Queen Elizabeth ; and shortly after 



78 A COHNEU OP KENT. 

to Mr. John Ward, of London, whose widow, Cathe- 
rine, held it in dower at the restoration of Charles II. 
After her death, it continued in tlie family of Ward 
till one of them sold it to William Lord Cowper, 
afterwards created Earl Cowper. In 1735 and 1739, 
two acts of parliament were passed for settling this 
estate, then valued at £90 per annum ; among others, 
of William Earl Cowper, deceased. His great-grand- 
son, George Augustus Earl Cowper, succeeded to the 
estate in 1789, on the death of his father, George 
Clayering Earl Cowper, at Elorence ; and the pro- 
perty is still in the same nohle family. 

A Court Baron is held for this manor. Of the 
chapel of Overland, formerly a chapel of ease to the 
church of Ash, we shall speak elsewhere. 

HOLLAND. 

The manor of Holland is situated in the horough 
of Chilton, and a short distance north of Guilton 
Town. In the thirteenth century it was held hy a 
family to which it gave its name. One of the jurors 
named in the inquisition of the 36th of Henry III., 
above quoted, was '' William atte Molande," and 
in the forty-fifth of the same reign (A.D. 1271) two 
parts of a messuage in Ash were acknowledged by 
Andrew de MoUand, Matilda his wife, and Idonea de 
la Eorde, to be the property of Thomas de Sandwich. 
Harris says the Hollands were extinct in Edward II. 's 
time; but " Thomas at Molond " is a witness to two 
charters by John deGoshall, dated 16th of Edward III., 



DESCENT OF THE MANORS. '79 

and there was certainly a family of that name living 
in Ash as late as the reign of E;ichard II.* It is 
probable, however, that the issue of the branch resi- 
dent at Holland may have failed about the former 
period, as Sir Nicholas de Sandwich, son of Thomas 
de Sandwich, by his wife, a daughter of Thomas de 
Helles, of Woodnesborough, died seized of Molland in 
the reign of Edward III., and left an only daughter 
named Anne, who carried it with other estates in this 
parish to her husband, John Septvans, brother or 
cousin of the Sir William Septvans who was Sheriff 
of Kent fourth of Richard II. His son Gilbert 
succeeded to his mother's inheritance in this county, 
comprising the manors of Molland and Checquer. 
He resided at the latter manor-house, and married 
Constance, daughter and co-heir of Thomas Ellis, of 
Sandwich, founder of the hospital of St. Bartholomew 
at that place. 

John is said to have been lieutenant to John Lord 
Gray of Codnore, at the siege of Harfleur in 1415, 
and his son Gilbert, by reason of his residence there, 
or the services performed by himself or his father, 
assumed the old English name for that town, viz. 
Harfleet. That this cannot be altogether true, is 
clear from the fact that John Septvans must have 

-^ Vide Chapter V. 

t Philipot, and Hasted following him, sometimes represent John 
Septvans as the son of Sir William, father of the sheriff, and some- 
times as the son of Simon de Septvans, Sir William's brother. Vide 
Chapter V. for an inquiry into this matter. 



80 A CORNEU OF KENT. 

died before 1399, as by a deed dated in tbat year 
(twenty-second of Eicbard II.), William and Tbomas 
de Holland in Asb gave to '' Gilbert Septvans, 
alias at Cbeker," balf an acre of land near Small- 
brooke, in Asb, situated between tbe lands of 
the aforesaid William and Tbomas on tbe west ; 
tbose of tbe beirs of William Roger on tbe nortb ; 
of tbe lands of tbe aforesaid Gilbert on tbe soutb ; 
and of tbe heirs of John Septvans on tbe east. 
Unfortunately also for tbe tradition, tbe name of 
Gilbert Alfleet occurs in a deed of gift of Jobn 
Septvans to tbe said Gilbert and Jobn Gray, of all 
bis lands in Asb, as early as tbe seventeentb of 
Ricbard II., 1394 ; so tbat tbe deatb of Jobn may be 
fairly considered to bave taken place witbin tbe 
following five years, and consequently from fifteen 
to twenty years previous to Henry Y.'s celebrated 
expedition. Tbe same Gilbert Alfleet, no doubt, 
answers, twenty-second Ricbard. IL, 1399, for tbe 
cbantry of tbe cburcb of Asb, for tbree messuages, 
242 acres of land, and seventeen -acres of marsb, 
seven marcs seven sbillings and fourpence. Tbere 
is mucb doubt and confusion indeed in all tbe 
accounts of tbis family, and also in tbat of Sandwicb, 
from an heiress of which tbe Harfleets descended. 
Pbilipot has tbree pedigrees in the College of Arms, 
each contradicting the other in some most important 
particulars, though avowedly compiled from evidences 
partly furnished by tbe family. In his '^ Villare Can- 
tianum " be also gives two entirely different accounts 



DESCENT OF THE MANORS. 81 

of the descent, and seems to have bewildered Hasted, 
who has made confusion worse confounded by stating, 
both in his account of Holland and Chequer, in Ash, 
and of Milton Septvans, that Anne, daughter and heir 
of Sir Nicholas de Sandwich, married Sir William 
de Septvans, who died in 1407. But we should be- 
wilder our readers if we attempted to unravel this 
tangled skein in this portion of our history. It must 
suffice to state at present, that the greater part of the 
errors appear to' have arisen from the confusion of 
two separate branches of the family, occasioned by 
a similarity of Christian names, as will be shown 
hereafter. Gilbert, we have seen, was styled " Sept- 
vans, alias at Cheker;" and his son Thomas also 
thus designates himself. Philipot in one of his 
Pedigrees says that this Thomas assumed the name 
of Harfleet from his manor of Pleet, altogether 
ignoring the tradition he has in other places re- 
corded. Thomas's son Christopher was undoubtedly 
called '* Harflete, alias at Cheker," as was his son 
Raymond, who married Beatrix, daughter of Richard 
Brooke, and is described as of Holland. Their son, 
Thomas Harfleet, called himself also Thomas at 
Chequer, and marrying first Bennet, daughter and 
heir of John Winborne, and secondly Harian, daughter 
of Edward Brockhull, died seized of Holland in 1559, 
and bequeathed it to his son Christopher Harfleet, 
who wrote himself " Septvans, alias Harflete," re- 
suming the old name of his family. He died in 1575, 
leaving by his wife Hercy, daughter of Thomas 



82 A CORNER OP KENT. 

Hendley, and widow of Edmund Eowler, of Islington, 
seyeral children. She possessed this seat at her death 
in 1602, when it came to her eldest son. Sir Thomas 
Harfleet, Knight, who was three times married ; first 
to Elizabeth, daughter of William Gilborne, Esq. ; 
secondly to Bennett, daughter of Michael Berisford, 
Esq. ; and thirdly to Dorothy, daughter of Avery 
Mantell, and widow of Menvil, or Menfield, of Eever- 
sham. By his first wife he appears to have had no 
issue. Hasted does not even mention her; but by 
Bennett he had a very numerous family. Michael 
Harfleet, of Molland, Esq., his eldest son, died without 
issue in 1619, and left this estate to his brother, 
Christopher Harfleet, who was afterwards knighted, 
and at first resided here, and then removed to St. 
Stephen's, near Canterbury, where he died in 1662, 
leaving by Aphra, his wife, widow of Alcott, a son, 
Thomas Harfleet, of Molland, Esq., who is said by 
Hasted to have married Margaret, sister of George 
Newman, of Bochester, Esq., by whom he left an 
only daughter, Aphra, wife of John St. Ledger, of 
Deloraine, in Ireland. This statement is, however, 
contradicted by the pedigree in the Visitation of 
Kent, D. 13, Coll. Arms, signed by Margaret herself, 
who was the wife of another Thomas Harfleet, of 
Trapham, in Wingham, cousin of Christopher. ( Vide 
Chapter Y.) John St. Ledger sold Molland to Thomas 
Singleton, M.D., who died here in 1710. Mary, his 
Avife, held it in dower in Harris's time, who com- 
memorates her as " a lady of fine endowments both 



DESCENT or THE MANORS. 83 

of mind and body." At her death it came to her son 
John, who sold it in 1727 to the trustees under the 
will of Admiral Sir George Eooke, for the benefit 
of his son George, who died in 1739 without issue, 
and his widow, Prances, alienated it to Mr. William 
Allen, of Canterbury, brewer, whose widow held it 
in Hasted's time. Of her it was purchased by the 
late Mr. Peckham, whose son, Mr. Richard Peckham, 
sold it to the Master and Wardens of Emmanuel 
College, Cambridge, its present proprietors. 

CHILTON. 

This manor is situated in a borough of its own 
name, which extends over the greatest part of the 
parish of Ash, comprehending all that portion of it 
from Goldston south and westward, the rest being in 
the borough of Overland. 

The manor was held of the Archbishop of Canter- 
bury, and the earliest notice we have as yet found of 
it is in the beginning of the reign of Henry III., 
when it appears to have been in the possession of a 
family deriving their name from it. 

In the fourteenth year of that reign, a writ was 
issued to inquire whether it would be to the king's 
injury, or that of neighbouring traders, if the king 
granted to the Archbishop of Canterbury permission 
to hold a market on every Tuesday at his manor of 
Wingham. The first juror on the list of persons 
appointed to make this inquisition is E/Oger de 
Chilton, and the answer was that it would not be to 

G 2 



84 A CORNER OP KENT. 

the injury of the king or of the neighbouring traders, 
but rather to their advantage ; that the markets of 
Canterbury and Sandwich would be improved by the 
accession of traders coming to the said market of 
Wingham ; and that on Tuesday there was no market 
it could possibly hurt, nor any nearer than twenty 
leagues, which was at Lenham. Some caution is 
necessary in our attempts to identify members of this 
family, as there are other Chiltons in Kent (one in 
Sittingbourne, another in the parish of St. Lawrance, 
Isle of Thanet), which may claim as their owners 
some of the persons of that name that we meet with 
in early documents ; * but there is an extract from 
a charter, sans date, in the MS. collection marked 
'' Kent," R. 27, Coll. of Arms, which we think we 
may, withoiit hesitation, ascribe to this E^oger, in 
which he names Eobert, his father, and Goodhert, 
his mother; and Walter, John, and Theobald, his 
brothers. It is witnessed by Robert de Gosehcmle, 
and Ralph his son ; Theobald de Helle, and Thomas 
and John his sons; Peter de Cumbe, and Hamon, 
Adam, and Theobald, his sons. The names of these 
witnesses, all holding property in Ash and its imme- 
diate vicinity at the commencement of the thirteenth 
century, afford us all but positive evidence of the 
identity of this Roger de Chilton with the juror in the 
inquisition of the fourteenth of Henry III., and who 

* Philipot says that the Chiltons of Sittingbourne were also owners 
of the manor of Chilton in Ash. — Vill. Cant. p. 311. 



DESCENT OF THE MANORS. 85 

was probably the father of Simon de Chiltime^ one of 
the jurors in an inquisition post mortem forty-seventh 
of Henry III., 1263, respecting the property of which 
Hamo de Crevecoeur had died seized in that year, and 
son of the "William de Chilton who held the manor 
in the reign of Edward I., and died in the thirty-first 
year of it. 

By an escheat of that date, we find he left, by his 
wife Isabella, two daughters, Isabella and Sara, and 
died seized of Wending, Chilton, B;Ocking, and fifteen 
acres of pasture at Pleet, near Sandwich. We next 
find the manor in the possession of the family of 
Baude, William de Baude dying seized of it fourth 
of Edward III. This William de Baude had married 
Johanna, daughter of Johanna de Criol, by Sir Eichard 
de Bokesly. This lady was directly descended from 
William d'Arques, through the families of Avranches 
and Crevecoeur ; and supposing Isabella and Sara, the 
coheiresses of William de Chilton, to have died un- 
married or without issue, the manor might have passed 
to Johanna as one of the representatives of the Criols^ 
with whom the Chiltons, we suspect, were connected. 
Her great-uncle, Alured de Criol, had a daughter 
named Isabella, of whose marriage we have no evi- 
dence, and who we are inclined to believe was the 
Isabella, wife of William de Chilton above mentioned. 
Sir William de Baude also was found cousin and heir 
to John de Criol, son of Bertram, and nephew of 
Alured, on the death of the said John without issue, 
thirtieth Edward I. 



86 A CORNER OF KENT. 

Sir Wm. de Baude died seized of Chilton fourth of 
Edward III. ; from him it came to Thomas de "Walton, 
who died possessed of it in the thirty-seventh year of 
the same reign ; soon after which it was alienated to 
Sir William de Septvans, whose descendant Aphra, 
wife of John St. Ledger, Esq., sold it, in 1675, to 
George Thorpe, G.T.P., Prehendary of Canterbury, 
who bequeathed it, in 1716, with the manor of 
Chequer, to which it was then united, to the Master 
and Eellows of Emmanuel College, Cambridge, who 
still possess it. There are no remains of a manor- 
house, but there is a hamlet called Chilton on the 
north side of Ash- Street, consisting only of a few 
cottages, which are held of the above manor, now 
called of Chequer and Chilton. We gather from the 
deed of foundation of the college of Wingham, by 
Archbishop Peckham in 1286, that there were fields 
here at that time, known as Bradfelde, Brenthe, and 
Utlekre, which he gave to the canons of Wingham in 
common. 

X CHEQUER. 

Chequer, written in ancient records Estchequer, 
is close to Holland and adjoining to Chilton. There 
was an ancient Kentish and Essex family of the name 
of Chequer, or de Scaccario {i. e, of the Exchequer), 
which they bore as hereditary ushers to the Court of 
Exchequer ; and from them there can be little doubt 
this manor received its name. A Robert de Estche- 
quer married Alice de Esley, now Easlin, in Eeversham 



DESCENT OP THE MANORS. 87 

hundred, in the time of Stephen, and their descendants 
held the manor of Addington, in Larkfield hundred, 
in the reigns of Edward II. and III. In the Court 
Rolls of the reign of John, we find Pulbert, of Dover, 
and Albinum de Scaccario, petitioners in a suit versus 
Adam de Taleworth and Henry Propositus de Sand- 
wich. Simon, son and heir of Eoger de Scaccario, 
did homage for his lands fifty-fifth Henry III., and 
died without issue twentieth Edward I. His sister 
Lora married John Peyforer, whose family inter- 
married with that of Sandwich, and was connected 
collaterally with many of the principal landholders in 
Ash. By an escheat of thirty-first of Edward L, we 
find a ''Radulphus de Chekker" married to Johanna, 
daughter and co-heiress of Salomon de Charmes, 
CO. Kent. '^Rogerus de Estcheker" is one of the 
hobilers or lighthorsemen appointed by William de 
Clinton, Earl of Huntingdon, John de Cobham, and 
Thomas de Aldon, to keep watch and ward in that 
part of the coast of Kent called the Genlade {i. e. 
Inlet) of Hoo, between Sandwich and E^eculver 
(where now runs the St our), in the eleventh of 
Edward III. We have not yet discovered the pre- 
cise link of the connection by which the manor of 
Chequer, with those of Holland and Chilton, passed 
into the family of Sandwich ; but all three were 
eventually carried by Anne, daughter and heir of 
Sir Nicholas de Sandwich, to that of Septvans, alias 
Harfleet, the later members of which, as we have 
already stated, frequently styled themselves alias 



88 A CORNEU OP KENT. 

Chequer, or Atclieqiier. The name of Roger, com- 
mon in that of De Scaccario, was preserved in the 
Harfleet family. E;Oger Harfleet, alias E;Oger Atchie- 
quer, one of the sons and heirs of Christopher Harfleet, 
alias Atehequer, conveyed all his lands and tene- 
ments in Ash to his brother Raymond, by a deed 
dated 3rd of May, twenty-fonrth of Henry YII., 
A.D. 1509. He left an only daughter, Agnes, mar- 
ried to Stamble, of Ash. Previous to this period, 

however, the manor of Chequer had passed, either 
by marriage or purchase, to the family of Alday, one 
of whom, Thomas Alday, married Bennett, or Bene- 
dicta, daughter of Richard Exherst, of Ash, by Alice, 
daughter of Constance, widow of Gilbert Septvans, 
by her second husband, Jobn Notbeam, of Ash. 
Jerome and Adam Alday, sons of Thomas and Alice, 
parted with tbeir portion again to Raymond Har- 
fleet, of Holland, and his son Thomas purchased 
another portion of it of the beirs of John Monins, 
Lieutenant of Dover Castle, who had acquired it by 
marriage with Margaret, daughter of Thomas Alday, 
of Chequer, by bis wife Bennett Exherst, some part 
of the manor, however, still remaining with Monins ; 
for by his will, proved 21st of January, 1554, he 
leaves to William, his son, all bis right, part, and 
purport in the manor of Chequer, in Ash, and all his 
lands in that parish, in tail male. 

Sir Thomas Harfleet, though resuming the name 
of Atehequer, continued to reside at Holland till 
his death in 1559. His great-grandson. Sir Chris- 



DESCENT OE THE MANORS. 89 

topher, removed, as we have said, to Canterbury, 
where he died in 1662, and with Aphra Harfleet 
this estate passed, with the manor of Chilton, in 
marriage to John St. Ledger, and both were sold by 
them in 1695 to the Rev. George Thorpe, Prebend 
of Canterbury, who in 1716 bequeathed the manor of 
Chequer, alias Chequer and Chilton, to the Master 
and Pellows of Emmanuel College, as before stated. 

HILLS COURT 

is a manor adjoining that of Goshall, and took its 
first name from a family named Helles or Hilles, who 
possessed large estates in the neighbourhood of Darent 
and Dartford, in this county. Their wealth and in- 
fiuence probably were the result of the marriage of 
Theobald de Helles with Agnes, daughter of Gilbert, 
and sister of the celebrated Archbishop Thomas a 
Becket, by whom he had a son, named Thomas after 
his uncle. The Christian name of Theobald indeed, 
which we find continued in the family, is suggestive 
of a descent from, or connection with, a still earlier 
archiepiscopal stock — that of Hubert Walter, from 
whence the Botelers or Pincernas of Pleet, Eastry, 
and Herenden ; but at present we have no proof to 
adduce of such a parentage. In the eighth of John, 
1207, we have record of a suit against Manasser de 
Hastings, for some lands in Graveney, instituted by 
Adam de Helles, and his brothers Theobald and Wil- 
liam. Bertram de Helles was Lieutenant of Dover 
Castle under Ueginald de Cobham, Constable and 



90 A CORNER OE KENT. 

Lord "Warden, thirty-ninth of Henry III. ; and at the 
same period we find another Theohald de Helles, a 
juror associated with Eoger de Chilton and William 
at Holland, in the inquisition respecting Wingham 
market, preyiously mentioned (page 83), where we 
have also spoken of a charter of Eoger de Chilton, 
witnessed hy this Theobald de Helles and two of his 
sons, Thomas and John ; and we accordingly find a 
Thomas de Helles, or Hilles, in possession of this ma- 
nor, and dying seized of it seyenteenth of Edward I.; 
and in the sixth of Edward II., William and Thomas, 
sons of John de Helles, were in ward to Thomas, son 
of Thomas de Sandwich, by assignment of John de 
Malmaynes, their guardian by assignment of Robert 
de Dene, who was appointed by E^obert, Archbishop 
of Canterbury, as being " next of kin, to whom their 
heritage could not come."* Sir Henry de Helles was 
knight of the shire for the county in the fourth par- 
liament of Edward III. He was deceased in the 
ninth of that reign, 1337, leaving a widow named 
Margaret ; t and Gilbert de Helles, of Hills Court, in 
Ash, and of St. Margaret Hills, in Darent, was Sheriff 
of Kent in the thirtieth of the same reign. Thomas 
and Allen de Helles witnessed a charter of Walter de 

* His mother's name was apparently Alicia, as in a Plea Koll of 
the 47tli of Henry III. we find "Alicia qui fuit uxor Theobald! 
de Helles." 

t Robert de Dene was son and heir of Eadulph de Dene, by 
Sibilla, his wife, which Kadulph was by birth a PiDcerna or Butler, 
a fact which tends to corroborate our opinion that the family of 
De Helles were originally of that stock. 



DESCENT OF THE MANORS. 91 

Goshall in 1348, and in tlie same family the manor 
continued down to the reign of King Edward lY., 
when, according to Hasted, it was alienated to Wroth, 
who held it till Henry YII.'s time ; not long after 
which it appears to have come into the possession of 
the family of Slaughter ; Mary, daughter of George 
Slaughter, of Ash, having brought it in marriage to 
Henry Harfleet, of Ash, gentleman, a younger son of 
Thomas at Chequer, alias Harflete; and he by his 
will, in 1608, left it to his eldest son Henry, who sold 
it to Edward Peke, son of Peter Peke, Esq., M.P. 
for Sandwich in the first and third parliaments of 
Charles I. His son, Thomas Peke, of Hills Court, 
Esq., died possessed of it in I6783 leaving, by Katha- 
rine his wife, daughter of William Kingsley, Arch- 
deacon of Canterbury, four sons ; the eldest of whom, 
Sir Edward Peke, Knight, resided at Hills Court, the 
manor of which is called in his father's will '' Hill's 
Churchgate." By Elizabeth, daughter of Sir George 
Went worth, Sir Edward Peke left issue three sons. 
Thomas Peke, of Hills Court, Esq., died in 1701, 
having married Elizabeth, daughter of Mr. Anthony 
Ball, by whom he had Edward Peke, Esq., who, after 
the death of his mother, who married secondly Bobert 
Minchard, of Ash, succeeded to the property, and died 
without issue. His niece Anne, wife of Oliver Ste- 
phens, Esq., assigned the fee of this and other manors 
to Sir Erancis Head, Bart., in 1750 ; and he, in 1760, 
alienated them to Peter Eector, Esq., of Dover, of 
whose son, John Minet Eector, Hills Churchgate and 



92 A CORNER or KENT. 

other property was purchased by Mr. Thomas Cole- 
man, of GursoHj senior, and re-sold by him to the late 
Marchioness Dowager of Conyngham. It is now the 
property of her ladyship's eldest son, the present 
marquis. 

TWITHAM HILLS, 

a manor a little to the north-west of Hills Court, 
belonged first to the same family of Holies or Hilles ; 
but before the reign of Edward III. they had, accord- 
ing to Hasted, parted with their interest in it to the 
family of Twitham, from which it receiyed its other 
name. We are much inclined to believe, however, 
that the family of Holies was the same as that of 
Twitham, a branch of it having assumed the latter 
name from the lands they held at Twitham, or 
Twittam, in the parish of Wingham. 

An Alan de Twitham is recorded as having been 
with Eichard I. at the siege of Acre ; and there was 
a famous suit in the second of John, A.D. 1201, 
between Theobald de Twitham * and Thomas de Gar- 
winton, concerning some lands in Ileden. Another 
Alan de Twitham was living in the reign of 
Edward II., who was succeeded by a Theobald de 
Twitham, whose heirs, a third Alan and a Hamo de 
Twitham, paid aid in the twentieth of Edward III., 
for one part of a knight's fee which Alan de 
Twitham had previously held in Twitham of the 
Archbishop of Canterbury. In the twenty-fifth 

* Sou of Hamo de Twitham.— Plea EoU lOtli of John. 



DESCENT OF THE MANOES. 93 

of that reign, 1353, there was an inquisition post 
mortem^ when Alanus de Twitham, son of Theobald, 
son of Alanus Dominus de Twitham, was found 
to be heir, and five years old. In the fourth of 
Eichard II., 1381, there was another inquisition to 
ascertain the holdings of this Alan Fitz Theobald 
de Twitham, when the jurors returned him as 
seized of Twitham manor, in the vill of Godneston 
juxta Wingham, Helles manor, in Ash juxta Wing- 
ham; six acres of land in Godneston, and an acre 
of meadow land, and half a rood of land in Ash. 
In the nineteenth and twentieth of Richard II., 
1396 — 1397, there are other similar valuations of 
his property, but no proof of his death ; nor have we 
found any further mention of him. He is said to 
have had a sister named Maud, eventually his heir, 
whom Harris and Hasted, following apparently 
Philipot in his " Villare Cantianum," p. 235, marry 
to Simon Septvans, a person of whose existence we 
have been unable to find any record on which we can 
safely rely, and who, according to Philipot' s own 
statements, in his pedigree of the family in the 
College of Arms, MS. No. 26, wherein he is called 
Symkin, lived in the reign of Edward II., and was 
brother of Sir William Septvans, who is there made 
husband of Maud de Twitham. We accordingly find 
in some other places that Hasted has adopted the 
latter statement without noticing its contradiction of 
the former. In brief, all the old pedigrees of the 
Septvans are full of errors previous to the Heralds' 



94 A CORNER OF KENT. 

Visitations, which, unfortunately, commence too 
late to settle this point. As we shall have occasion 
to return to this subject in the fifth chapter of this 
volume, we will simply state here that, however 
derived, the manor of Twitham Hills remained in 
the family of Sept vans till the reign of Edward TV., 
when it passed to that of Worth, who at the same 
time became owners of Hills Court ; and from them 
to Slaughter, and by Mary, the daughter of George 
Slaughter, back to that of Septvans, then called 
Harfleet, as stated in our account of Hills Court; 
and after some intermediate owners to that of Elgar, 
whose descendant, Nathaniel Elgar, of Sandwich, 
gentleman, was the proprietor in Hasted's time. 
He died in 1795, when the manor devolved to S. 
Toomer, Esq., and then to the late Thomas Minter 
Tomlin, in whose family it still remains. 

LEYERICKS 

is a manor adjoining to Hills Court northward, and 
was anciently the residence of a knightly family of 
that name, and whose ancestors had been citizens 
and mayors of Sandwich. There is less known about 
the early history of this manor than of any other in 
the parish. The name of Leverick is, we think, a 
corruption of Leofric ; but we find in early docu- 
ments relating to this locality, the name of Libricus, 
and also of Eluricus, from either of which it might 
be derived. At the same time we are aware that 
there was an ancient Wiltshire family of the name 



DESCENT OE THE MANORS. 95 

of Loveraz, eventually Loveriekj as that of Sandwich 
is frequently spelt, and which, in Sir E^ichard Colt 
Hoare's history of that county, is said to be derived 
from Loveries, or Louveries, a place ^' either infested 
by wolves or an establishment for hunting them." 
As this is only an assumption on the part of Sir 
Richard, we shall merely observe that the ancestors 
of the Wiltshire family are nearly all called "cfe 
Loveraz," whereas those of the Sandwich Lovericks 
are in no instance preceded by the Norman " de."* 
A Solomon LoveryTc is mentioned in a document 
printed by Eoys, in his Collections for a History of 
Sandwich (p. 661), of the date of 1281. In 1306 
(thirty-fourth of Edward I.) there was a Einal Concord 
between John de Goshall and Henry Liwerick and 
Margery his wife, respecting lands in Ash jitxta 
Sandwich, t showing the connection of the family 
with this parish at least as early as the commence- 
ment of the fourteenth century. A John Loverick 
was mayor of Sandwich in 1346, and, according to a 
pedigree by Philipot, in the College of Arms, a Sir 
John Leverick, of Ash, married about this period 
Joan, daughter of John Septvans, of Eromhill ; but 

'"' The arms of Leverick of Carne, co. Dorset, are set down in 
Philipot's "Ordinary," page 94, — Argent on a chevron Sahle, three 
leopards' faces Or, being the same as those attributed to the Levericks 
of Ash and Sandwich ; but no authority is quoted, and, if not an 
error arising from similarity of name, it is just possible that the 
Leverick of Carne, whom we have not been able to identify, might 
be of the Kentish and not the Wiltshire family. 

t Lansdown MS. 209, p. 293. 



96 A CORNER OF KENT. 

whether one and the same with the mayor or not we 
have at present no proof. Thomas Loveryck sat in 
Parliament for Sandwich in the forty-second of 
Edward III., 1368, and in the first of Eichard II., 
1377. This was prohably the Thomas Loverick who 
gave, in 1370, to "Gilbert, son of John Septvans, 
of Cheker, in Ash," three acres of land in Ash.* 
Sir William Leverick, Knight, of Ash, a son or 
brother of this Thomas, married, according to 
Philipot, Emma, daughter of the John Septvans and 
sister of the Gilbert above mentioned. Sir William 
and Dame Emma are said to have been great bene- 
factors to the church of St. Mary, Sandwich, by 
their liberal repair and restoration of it after it had 
been burned by the Erencli in the reign of Eichard II. 
They died in the following reign of Henry IV., and 
were buried in St. Mary's aforesaid. Another Thomas 
Loveryck was mayor of Sandwich in 1412 and 1416, 
and a Henry Leverick sat in Parliament for Sand- 
v/ich, and was in possession of this manor in Ash in 
the seventh of Henry Y. Amongst the Harleian 
Charters is one by Thomas Eamsey to Henry Love- 
ryck and others, of lands in the parish of St.Dunstan's, 
Canterbury, dated first of Eichard III., 1483 ; and at 
length we arrive at some genealogical data on which 
we can confidently rely. This Henry of Canter- 
bury died in 1487, having married two wives, — first, 
Katharine, and, second, Elizabeth, who survived him. 

* Vide Chapter V., under " Septvans." 



DESCENT OE THE MANORS. 97 

He had issue two daughters, — Susannah, a nun in 
Sheppey, mentioned in her father's will, and Johanna, 
who was Hying in 1475, but who is not named in it, 
and probably died before him. This Henry had a 
sister, Johanna, married to William Manston, whom 
she survived, and died in 1475. Her will was proved 
by her brother Thomas, and she mentions in it 
Anthony and Henry Leverick, her brothers; John 
the son of Anthony, and Johanna daughter of Henry, 
as we have stated above. Anthony Leverick, of 
Heme, Esq., had by his wife Constantia,* besides 
his son John, living in 1475, an only daughter, 
named Pernel, who seems to have been eventually 
his heir, and carried this manor of Leverick, in Ash, 
eighteenth of Henry YIL, 1503, t to her husband, 
Edward Monins, of Walder share, Esq., who joined 
with his wife in the sale of it to one of the family of 
Peke, of Sandwich, from whom it descended to Edward 
Peke, the purchaser of Hills Court. His son, Thomas 
Peke, of Hills Court, Esq., who died in 1678, speaks 
in his will of his manor or lordship of Hill's Church- 
gate, and his manor or lordship of lAveroches, with 
their royalties, rents, and services, and the capital 
mansion-house, buildings, lands, marshes, and woods 
to them belonging, in Ash. Prom the Pokes the 

* " Daughter and heir of Turberville," according to one pedigree 
of Monius (Pin go, 1 Coll. of Arms) ; but in another (Philipot, 26, 27), 
" d. of Woolbright," who bore " Argent, three roses gules." 

t Anthony Leverick of Heme died October 16th, 1510. — Monu- 
mental inscription, Heme Church — " Tour in Thanet." 

H 



98 A CORNER OP KENT. 

property passed, as stated at page 91, from Stephens, 
to Sir Erancis Head, and from him to Peter Eector, 
of Dover, of whose son, John Minet Eector, lord of 
the manor in 1839, it was purchased, together with 
Hills Court and Goshall, by Mr. Thomas Coleman, 
senior, of Guston, and sold, with the other property, 
to the late Marchioness Dowager of Conyngham ; all 
of which has now passed by her ladyship's will to her 
eldest son, the present marquis. 

WEDDINGTON, 

says Hasted, " was formerly accounted a manor, 
though it has long since lost the reputation of having 
been one." We have no account of its possessors 
previous to the thirteenth century ; from which period 
down to the reign of Charles I. it appears to have 
remained in the family of Hougham, a knightly race, 
taking their name from the manor of Hougham, 
Huffam, or Hicham, as it is spelt in Domesday, near 
Dover. In Hicham, or Hougham, a suling of land 
was held in the Conqueror's reign by one Baldwin ; 
but whether, an ancestor of this family or not, we 
cannot pretend to say. 

The parish of Hougham was part of the lands 
given by the Conqueror to Pulbert de Lucy, called 
'' of Dover," for the defence of Dover Castle, and 
therefore in the Barony of Pulbert, as it was called, 
of which Chillam Castle was the chief seat, or cajgut 
haroniai ; and we consequently find Hougham held 
by knight's service in the time of Edward III. A 



DESCENT OF THE MANORS. 99 

Eobert de Hougham was one of the Kentish knights 
with B;ichard I. at the siege of Acre, and is the 
earliest at present known of the owners of that 
manor. His son, of the same name, died seized of 
it in the forty-first of Henry III., and his son, a 
third Robert de Hongham, who died in the second 
of Edward I., held it, together with the office of 
Constable of Rochester Castle. A fourth Robert 
de Hougham died twenty-ninth of Edward I., 
and a fifth in the eleventh of Edward III., leaving 
two daughters his coheirs, — Benedicta, married to 
John de Shelving, and Matilda, wife of Waretius or 
Warin de Valoignes, the latter of whom became pos- 
sessed of Hougham on the division of the inheritance. 
He also left two daughters and coheirs, Joan, mar- 
ried to Sir Thomas Eogg, of Repton Ashford, and 
Matilda, to Thomas de Aldelyn, or Aldon. Which 
of these Roberts de Hougham was the first who owned 
Weddington, or how it came into the possession of 
that family, neither Philipot nor Hasted seems to have 
discovered;; but the former tells us that the arms of 
Hougham Argent, five chevronels sable, was borne 
by them in token of their holding under the family of 
Avranches, Lords of Eolkestone, who bore Or, five 
chevronels gules, such being a common practice in 
the early ages of heraldry ; the family of Evering in 
like manner bearing Argent, five chevronels azure, 
either to mark their descent from, or feudal connection 
with, the same Lords of Eolkestone. It is therefore 
probable that the Houghams, although named from a 

H 2 
L.ofC. 



100 A CORNER OP KENT. 

manor which they held of the honor of Dover or 
Chillam, were collateral descendants of the family of 
Avranches, or connected with it by marriage. The 
position of Weddington favours this assumption, for 
it is adjacent to the lands we know were part of the 
Earony of Eolkestone, and in the tenure of E^uellinus 
d'Avranches in the twelfth century. According to 
one account, the Ash branch of the family descended 
from E;ichard de Hougham, brother of the Robert 
whose coheirs married with Yaloignes and Shelving.* 
He had a son Simon, who had a son Robert, said to 
have died in Ash. His son was called Robert of 
Elmston, and his son, William Hougham, resided at 
Weddington at the beginning of the reign of Henry 
YIII. By Elizabeth his wife he had Solomon, 
described as " holding many lands in the hundred of 
Wingham," whose son Stephen died in 1555, having 
married Bennett, daughter of John Brooke, of Brooke- 
street, Ash, and eventual heir of her nephew John, 
whose singular epitaph is one of the curiosities in 
Ash church. Their son, Michael Hougham, had a son 
Richard, who marrying Elizabeth, daughter of Edward 
Sanders, of Norborne, their descendants are said by 
Hasted to have assumed the arms of Sanders ; viz.. Or, 



* "Robert de Hugham," the fourth of the name, father of this 
Kichard and Robert, is named in the Placita de quo Warranto as 
one of the jurats, 21st of Edward I., in conjunction with Robert 
de Ashe, John de Goshall, Adam de Twytham, Richard de Pimpe, 
and HeDry de Schorne {vel Thorne), all persons of importance in 
this parish, either from residence in or connection with it. 



DESCENT OF THE MANORS. 101 

on a chevron between three elephants' heads gules, 
as many mullets argent. Mr. Streatfield, however, 
in a note on this passage, remarks : '^ I doubt very 
much whether, after all, it was the coat of Sanders, 
which the Houghams seem to have had no right even 
to quarter, and which are described (copy of Visitation, 
B. P.) as parti per chevron, argent and sable, three 
elephants' heads counterchanged ; totally different 
arms, it will be seen, to those given above." And 
in another note he suggests that the coat was an 
allusive one to that of Sanders, as ''it is probable 
the heralds would not allow the ancient coat of 
Hougham, for want of an unbroken chain of evidence 
of descent." The branch of the Houghams which re- 
mained at St. Martin's, Canterbury, certainly retained 
their ancient family arms ; but their other coat, 
whether that of Sanders or not, was borne by the 
Houghams of Ash long previous to the marriage of 
Richard and Elizabeth Sanders, as we shall show in 
Chapters lY. and Y. Michael Hougham, son of the 
above E^ichard and Elizabeth, resided at Weddington, 
and dying in the reign of Charles I., was buried 
with his ancestors in the south transept of Ash 
church. He left by Margaret, daughter of Wil- 
liam Courthope, of Stodmarsh, Esq., and Mildred, 
daughter of Christopher Harfleet, alias Septvans, of 
Molland, a son named William, whose descendants 
settled in London, and Weddington, after passing 
through several hands, was finally purchased by the 
Garrets of Thanet, and was in the possession of Mr. 



102 A CORNER OF KENT. 

John Garret in the time of Hasted. At the end of a 
GO]}j of the "Yillare Cantianum," formerly belonging 
to Mr. J. Warburton, Somerset Herald, was pasted, 
however, a manuscript memorandum by Erancis 
Hougham, only surviving son of the last "William, 
stating that his aunt {i. e. his great-aunt) Anne left 
his father executor, and the estate to his (Francis's) 
younger brother Michael ; and in case he died, it was 
to go to the next youngest of the children of William, 
'' which was I, Prancis Hougham, only son left ; and 
I, by my last will, do give it to my son Gervase 
Hougham ; but I find that my father has mortgaged 
it for ninety-nine years, and that it is impossible it can 
come to me ; so I have made this memorandum of it, 
that my son Gervase may have it notwithstanding. 
I believe it is now (1717) about sixty years since 
the date. It lies in, the parish of Ashe. It was in the 
hands of a Mr. Wills as tenant. The mortgage was 

to one Mr. Eobinson, and he gave it to who 

married one Admiral Davis ; and since I cannot tell 
any further. There has been an acknowledgment in 
the Court of Chancery from them to me, that it does 
belong to me, about the year 1685-6-7, as Mr.Hardisty, 
of Essex Street, and Mr. Bourne (of Lincoln's Inn), 
do affirm to me, for they were the lawyers concerned 
forme." — Signed "Prancis Hougham." '* He was, 
according to Guillim" (adds Mr. Streatfield, to whose 
MSS. we are indebted for this little piece of family 
history), " a citizen and painter-stainer, and bore the 
ancient coat of the family." We shall have more to 
say on this subject in Chapter V. 



DESCENT OE THE MANORS. 103 



WINGHAM BARTON, 

lying at the north-west extremity of this parish, about 
half a mile from the river Stour, seems to have been 
a parcel of the ancient possessions of the see of Can- 
terbury ; and when Archbishop Peckham founded the 
college of Wingham, in 1286, he endowed it with all 
his archiepiscopal tithe " de la Berton," meaning this 
manor, which thenceforth was called Wingham 
Barton, to distinguish it from other manors named 
Barton, which simply means a farm. Who were the 
sub-tenants at that period, and during the following 
century, we have not been able as yet to discover; 
but early in the fifteenth century there was a family 
residing here called from it At Berton or Barton. 
Margaret, daughter of Thomas Septvans, alias Har- 
fleet, married Walter Barton, of Wingham Barton ; 
and Johanna, daughter of Lawrence St. Nicholas, 
temp, Henry IV., married first, " Salam (or Solomon) 
att Berton," and secondly, Eichard Pinneux. Ano- 
ther Johanna, sister of Margaret Septvans above 
named, married Thomas Pinneux, ancestor of Judge 
Pinneux, whose daughter, by a second wife, married 
the ancestor of Sir Dudley Diggs, whose descendants 
we eventually find renting a portion of the land 
here. The manor appears to have remained the 
property of the see of Canterbury until the reign 
of Henry VIII., when it passed to the Crown. 
Edward VI., in the fourth year of his reign, gave the 
ancient manor-house to Sir Anthony St. Ledger, Kt.; 
but the manor itself continued Crown property until 



104 A CORNER OF KENT. 

Queen Elizabeth granted it to Sir Roger Manwood, of 
Hackington, near Canterbury, Chief Baron of the 
Exchequer, a person in great favour with the qneen 
and her ministers, and founder of the free school at 
Sandwich, of which town his father, Thomas Man- 
wood, was a draper ; '' a goodly and pleasant gentle- 
man, and one that was had in good account there." * 
At this period the leases of Wingham Barton marshes 
were held by Thomas Diggs, Esq. ; and the Chief 
Baron, Sir Boger Manwood, sought to deprive him of 
them, as we are told, '^ most unconscionably, and by 
subtil and cunning practices, and extreme rigour of 
the law ; nor could he come to any conclusion with 
him but to his loss, £1,000 at the least, besides the 
great charge of the suit many ways, by the unjust 
vexation of the tenants." 

Sir Peter Manwood, son of Sir Boger, passed the 
manor away, by his trustees, at the latter end of the 
reign of James I., to Sir William Courtenay, of Lon- 
don, Kt., who gave it in marriage with his daughter 
Mary to Henry Grey, Earl of Kent ; and he, at his 
death in 1651, ordered it to be sold to discharge some 
debts, which was accordingly done by his widow and 
second wife, Arabella, to Mr. James Thurbarne, of 
Sandwich, whose son, John Thurbarne, Esq., Serjeant- 
at-law, leaving an only daughter and heir, Joan, she 
carried it in marriage to Colonel Edward Bivett, 
1690 ; and her son by him, named John, sold it, in 

* Boys's Collections, p. 245. 



DESCENT OF THE MANORS. 105 

1750, to Josiah Parrer, of Doctors' Commons, together 
with the site of Richborough Castle, for the sum of 
£6,812 ; and his son, Josiah Puller Earrer, alienated 
both to Peter Pector, Esq., of Dover, in 1761.* The 
mansion or manor-house remained, however, the pro- 
perty of the St. Ledger family from the time of Ed- 
ward YL, who granted it to Sir Anthony St. Ledger, 
until that of Charles I., when another Sir Anthony 
St. Ledger sold it to Mr. Yincent Denne, of Wenderton 
in Wingham, who gave it to his nephew, Mr. Thomas 
Denne, of Gray's Inn. He bequeathed it to his brother 
John Denne, of the Inner Temple, Esq., who dying 
without issue, it was sold by his sisters to Mr. Robert 
Beake, of Sapperton in Wingham, husband of their 
cousin Bridget, third daughter of Yincent Denne. 
Mr. Thomas Beake, of "Wickham Breus, was the pos- 
sessor of it in Hasted' s time ; and it still remains in 
that family. 

* A place called Keyt Marsli is mentioned as parcel of this manor 
in tlie will of Christopher Nevinson, proved 11th Sept., 1551, and 
Michael HuflPam of Ash, in his will, proved Dec. 10th, 1583, 
bequeaths to his son Stephen his " lands lying helow the Kete, in the 
said parish, being marsh." We have not succeeded in discovering 
the character or locality of " the Kete," the name of which seems to 
be no longer remembered here. 







View of Ablifrom Mount jLj/hraim. 



CHAPTEH III. 



PERAMBULATION 01^ THE PARISH, 



HAVING traced, as far as it is in our power now 
to do, the descent of the manors in Ash from the 
time of the Conquest to the present day, we will pro- 
ceed with the general history and description of the 
parish, including that portion of it which has been 
recently constituted a separate Ecclesiastical District, 
namely, Westmarsh, by order of Council, June 20, 
1849. Its extent, previous to that separation, was 
about four miles from east to west, and rather more 
than three from north to south. The northern 
boundary is the river Stour, which divides it from 
the Isle of Thanet. On the west are the parishes of 
Stourmouth, Elmstone, and Wingham. On the south 
those of Staple and Woodnesborough, the latter of 
which wraps round it also on the east, crossing the 



PERAMBIJLATION OE THE PAKISH. 107 

high road to Sandwich near Each-end gate, from 
whence the line of demarcation runs on the further 
side of East Street across the marshes till it again 
encounters the winding Stour a short distance below 
E;ichborough. 

This area contains, according to the latest calcula- 
tion, 7,028 acres,* a considerable portion of which is 
marsh. Hasted says, that in his day the land let, 
taking one description of it with the other, at £1 per 
acre per annum. The average price is now, however, 
nearly £2. 10s., and some portions have recently 
brought £3. 10s. per acre. 

The parish is situate in the lower half-hundred of 
Wingham, and a small part of an isolated portion of 
Bownhamford hundred, in the diocese and arch- 
deaconry of Canterbury, the deanery of Bridge, the 
lathe of St. Augustine, and Eastry union. East Kent. 
It contains two boroughs — Chilton and Overland — 
and was divided in the thirteenth century into three 
distinct parsonages or tytheries, the first comprising 
the rectories or parsonages of Ash, usually called 
Guilton Town; the second that of Overland, late 
belonging to Wingham College ; and the third that 
of Goldston, parcel of the possessions of St. Gregory's 
Priory, Canterbury. 

The church of Ash was originally a chapel of ease 
to that of Wingham, but on the foundation of the 
college there by Archbishop Peckham, in 1286, it was 

* Census 1861. 



108 A COENER OF KENT. 

made a distinct parisli cliurcli, and tlien given to the 
college, with the chapels of Overland and Elect (or 
Eichborough) in this parish, and appertaining to this 
church, which, becoming thus appropriated to the 
college of Wingham, continued with it till the sup- 
pression of that establishment in the reign of 
Edward YL, when this rectory or parsonage appro- 
priate with the advowson of the church of Ash came, 
with the rest of the possessions of the college, into 
the hands of the Crown. Edward VI., in the third 
year of his reign, granted a lease for twenty-one years 
to Henry Manning, of " the king's rectory of Ash, 
and the chapels of Overland and E^ichborough, with 
their appurtenances, late belonging to or arising from 
the chapels of Ash, Overland, and Eichborough, 
and in the vills of the same, to the said rectory 
belonging (excepting the portion belonging to the 
Provost of Wingham, at Overland aforesaid, and 
20 quarters of barley, to be delivered yearly to Sir 
Anthony Aucher, Kt., in right of the late priory- 
of Eolkestone), and also the mansion called the 
Yica^rage House, and the advowson of the parish 
church of Ash, to hold at the yearly rent of £54. 10s. ; 
and the king covenanted to save the tenant harmless, 
and particularly in a rent of ten shillings, issuing out 
of the said premises to the late priory of St. Sepulchre 
there {i.e. at Eolkestone) to Sir James Hales, Kt., 
yearly. The king to allow rough timber for the repair 
of the chancel and buildings, which the tenant was to 
repair," 



PERAMBULATION OP THE PARISH. 109 

It appears, however, that at the time of the appro- 
priation of the church of Ash to Wingham, in 1286, 
there was a vicarage endowed here, the advowson 
of which did not go with the rectory to Manning, 
and was at the time of the suppression esteemed a 
perpetual curacy. 

This advowson was granted by Queen Mary in 
the sixth year of her reign, A.D. 1558, to the 
Archbishop of Canterbury and his successors ; and 
in the third year of Queen Elizabeth, 1561, the 
rectory or parsonage appropriate of Ash with its 
chapels, since called Guilt on parsonage from the 
hamlet of Guilton, in Avhich the house and barns 
belonging to it are situate, was granted by that 
sovereign to Archbishop Parker; when, with the 
chapels of Overland and Richborough, the annual 
value was £54. 10s., reprises to the archdeacon 
7s. 6d., and to the carate £16. 13s. M., — the 
patronage of the perpetual curacy remaining vested 
in the see of Canterbury. 

At the valuation of the rent-charges under the Tythe 
Commutation Act, the gross value of the great tythes 
was fixed at £3,333 per annum, subject to a fine to 
the archbishop on renewal and payment to the per- 
petual curate of Ash. In 1836 the whole property 
of the see of Canterbury passed into the hands of the 
Ecclesiastical Commissioners, by whom, after the 
expiration of the present leases, granted in 1856, they 
will probably not be renewed. 

The present lessees are E. P. Delme Hatcliffe, Esq., 



110 A CORNER OF KENT. 

Charles Delmar, Esq., Messrs. Painter & Old- 
field, Mr. Simmons, and the Ecclesiastical Commis- 
sioners. The present lessees of Overland and 
Goldston are Messrs. James Petley and the heirs 
of Mr. Castle. 

Other matters relating to the church and its chan- 
tries, with the succession of incumbents, the chapels 
of Overland, Elect, &c., will be found in the chapter 
dedicated especially to the edifice itself, and in our 
notice of particular localities during our perambula- 
tion, which we will now commence in company with 
the reader. 

Entering the parish from the west by the high 
road which passes through Wingham from Canter- 
bury to Sandwich, we see immediately on our right 
the large farm of Pedding, pleasantly situated in 
the valley below. A family taking its name from 
this place is mentioned as early as the time of 
Henry III. In a fine-roll of the fifty-third of 
that king's reign, A.D., 1270, the sheriff of Kent 
is informed that Thomas de Pedding, Eoger son 
of Nicholas de Pedding, Stephen son of John 
de Pedding, and Robert his brother, with others, 
have paid half a mark for a brief to the next 
term. A John de Pedding witnesses a charter 
of Henry de Goshall, eighth Edward I., and a 
Peter de Pedding one of Walter, son of Henry de 
Goshall, dated 12th January, twentieth Edward III. 
Before the end of the following century it had passed, 
probably by marriage, into the family of Solly, one 



Platl3 




PERAMBULATION OF THE PARISH. Ill 

of whom named Stephen possessed it in the reign 
of Henry VII. This Stephen, called '' Stephen Solly 
the elder," married {circa 1509, according to the 
tradition of the family) " the daughter of Thomas 
Harflete ;" but we have not been able to identify 
this Thomas in the Harfleet pedigree. It is possible 
it may have been the '' Thomas Harflete of Staple," 
a near neighbour, whose will is dated 1493 ; but he 
only mentions his wife Isabella, and his place in the 
pedigree is not yet ascertained.* Erom the son of 
Stephen Solly the elder, named after his father, and 
who married in 1547 Elizabeth, daughter of Stephen 
Hugham, by Benedicta, or Bennett, Brooke, the 
descent of the SoUys of Ash, Sandwich, and London, 
as far as this inquiry is concerned, is perfectly clear. 
John Solly, of Wingham, great-grandson of the 
younger Stephen, died before his father, t and left 
Podding to his son Stephen, and it remained in that 
branch of the family till 1748, when it was sold to 
the Very Eev. John Lynch, dean of Canterbury, 

* We reserve the discussion of this and other similar points of 
family history for our Fifth Chapter, which being purely genealogi- 
cal need only be consulted by those who take a deeper or more 
antiquarian interest in our researches. 

t In his (John's) will, proved October 8th, 1661, he states that, 
whereas he had a right and title to the reversion, after the death of 
his father, Mr. Stephen Solley (the name is still so spelt by some of 
the family), of and in a messuage and lands commonly called Pedding, 
in Ash, he wills the same, after his wife Margaret's death, to his eldest 
son Stephen and his heirs for ever. This lady appears to have 
survived her husband forty-nine years, being buried at Ash, 1710, 
aged 80. He was buried at Ash 29th August, 1661. 



112 A COENER OF KENT. 

whose son. Sir William Lynch, K.B., at his death in 
1785, left it to his wife, Lady Lynch, who possessed 
it in Hasted's time. 

It is now the property of J. P. Plumtre, of 
Eredviile, Esq., late M.P. for Canterbury, and the 
residence of his nephew, Charles Plumtre, Esq. The 
house has been considerably enlarged by its present 
owner ; but mnch of the old building remains, and 
presents ns with several interesting features of the 
brickwork of the sixteenth century. In the upper 
part of the house is an oaken partition, with the 
initials carved on it of various members of the Solly 
family— viz., S. S. : E. S. : I. S. : P. S. : M. S. : E. S. : 
J. S. : S. S. : T. S, : and part of the letter E. ; 
also the initials W. C, with the date 1662. These 
letters correspond with the initials of eight of the 
nine children of the John Solly of Wingham before- 
mentioned. Their names were Stephen, Elizabeth, 
John, Prancis, Mary, Richard, Susan, and Thomas. 
This leaves another I. or J. S. to be accounted for, 
and the imperfect E. His ninth child, according to 
the family pedigree, had the name of her mother 
Margaret. The initials W. C. are most probably 
those of the carver, as they are apart from the 
others, and also occur on another piece of ornamental 
woodwork in Ash, which we shall presently have 
occasion to mention. 

The summit of the hill beyond Podding is nearly, 
if not quite, the highest ground in the parish, and 
from thence an ' extensive view is obtained on the 



PERAMBULATION OP THE PARISH. 113 

left of the Isle of Thanet, the sea and the cliffs of 
Ramsgate, Minster and its fine old church, Monckton, 
St. Nicholas, and the Eeculvers; and on the right 
the valley of Staple, with the villages of Staple and 
Addisham, the new station near the latter of the 
London, Chatham, and Dover Railway, Barham 
Downs, and the woods of Goodnestone Park, the seat 
of Sir Brook Bridges, Bart., M.P. 

In front the spire of Ash church rises above the 
trees and hamlet of Guilton. A little lane, now called 
Sandy Lane, but in early documents Black Lane, 
steals down into the valley on the right behind Guilton 
to the hamlet of Durlock, and its bridge over Wing- 
ham brook, a streamlet which, rising immediately 
below Ash church, runs through the valley of Staple, 
and forms part of the southern boundary of our parish. 

A little further on our left we pass the branch road 
to Elmstone and Grove Perry, and arrive at Guilton, 
or Guilton-town, as it is usually called, the house 
known as Guilton Parsonage,* or the Bectory, con- 
fronting us on the right as we turn the corner, 
embowered amongst some fine old limes at the 
junction of the high road from Wingham, with 
Durlock Lane leading to the village of Staple. The 
house, built apparently at the beginning of the seven- 

* Vide p. 109, ante. In the earliest Cess Book of this parish, we 
find amongst the accounts of "uncollected averages" for the year 
1601 : "Daniel Prior, uncollected for his part of the parsonages 
10s. 4d. j" and in 1604, the same Daniel Prior, "for his part of the 
parsonage of Ash, and the parsonage of Gregories 10s." 

I 



114 A CORNER OF KENT. 

teenth century, has been considerably altered by 
successive occupants. Sir Prancis Clarke resided 
here in 1634, and was succeeded by Sir Matthew 
Mennes in 1639-40.* It was afterwards the residence 
of the Minchards, and in 1713 of the venerated 
founder of the charity school of Ash, Gervase Cart- 
wright, who, in conjunction with his two sisters, 
Eleanor and Anne, in 1720-21, gave an estate of the 
value of £50 per annum for the teaching of fifty poor 
children to read and write, which land is vested in 
the minister and churchwardens of Ash for the time 
being and other trustees.! 

His gentle-hearted sisters, who are said to have 
died of grief for the loss of their beloved brother, 
also gave £100 for beautifying the chancel of Ash 
church, and the purchase of two pieces of plate for 
the communion service. Captain Brett, E^.N., died 
here in 1769, and was succeeded by Mr. Eobert le 
Grand. J The lease of the tythery was purchased by 

* Hasted says in 1643 ; "but the first assessment of Sir Matthew 
Mennes for the parsonage was in 1639-40." — Cess Book of Ash, sub 
anno. 

t Amongst the parish muniments is the release of Margaret Har- 
flete of Erapham, in the parish of Wingham, to Gervase Cartwright, 
of the City of London, merchant, of the messuages, lands, and premises, 
afterwards bequeathed by him to the parish of Ash. The date of 
the release is 1673, and she is joined in the act with John St. Ledger, 
of Doneraile, in the kingdom of Ireland, and Aphra his wife ; the 
parties on the other side being Sir Arnold Braems, of Bridge, co. 
Kent, Knight, and John Thurbarne, of Sandwich, Esq. 

X In the parish registers are the following entries of marriages : — 
George le Grand, of St. Andrews, Canterbury, to Anne Hayward of 



PERAMBIJLATION OF THE PAUISH. 115 

Mr. Michael Becker, of Dover, in or about the year 
1792, and after his death the property was divided 
amongst his five children ; and the Eectory is at 
present occupied by Charles Delmar, Esq., who 
married one of the daughters and coheirs. 

Entering the hamlet, the eye of the antiquary is 
arrested by an old Elemish-looking gable-ended build- 
ding, with a small arched porch before its door. This 
is also said to have been the residence of Gervase 
Cartwright previous to his occupation of the Par- 
sonage. It is now called the School Earm, being 
part of the estate bequeathed by Mr. Cartwright as 
above mentioned. Nearly opposite is Guilton Earm, 
the land of which is in the occupation of T. Mayhew, 
of Sevenscore, in the Isle of Thanet, Esq., the house 
being the residence of Mrs. Austin Gardner. On the 
wall at the back is a curious old sundial. 

Immediately beyond on the right is Guilton 
Mill, marking the locality of that great Anglo-Saxon 
cemetery which has given to this little hamlet a 
world-wide celebrity amongst antiquaries. 

It is exactly one hundred years ago since the Hev. 
Bryan Eaussett, of Heppington, commenced his ex- 
cavations here. During the years 1760, 1762, and 
1763, he opened no less than a hundred and six 
tumuli and graves, and obtained from them a large 
proportion of that valuable collection of antiquities 



Ash, May 7tb, 1767 ; and John Hunter, M.D., of St. James's, "West- 
minster, to Elizabeth le Grand, of Guilton, Ash, July 30th, 1784. 

I 2 



116 A CORNER OE KENT. 

now in the possession of Mr. Meyer, of Liverpool, 
who liberally purchased the whole after it had been 
neglected by the antiquaries of Kent, and declined 
by the authorities of the British Museum. Mr. 
Bryan Paussett died in 1776, and his successor in 
these researches was the Bev. James Douglas, the 
author of the now rather scarce work, " Nenia 
Britannica." 

In 1783 Mr. Douglas opened a group of barrows in 
the parish of Ash, and the result of his researches will 
be found in the volume above mentioned. The late 
Mr. Bolfe, of Sandwich, also more recently extracted 
some beautiful and interesting relics from this locality, 
and an account of them by Mr. Charles Boach Smith 
is published in the 30th volume of the Archseologia, 
or " Transactions of the Society of Antiquaries in 
London," p. 132, accompanied by engravings of the 
principal articles. The last excavations at Guilton 
were made in 1858 by Mr. Ingram Godfrey, of Brooke 
House, and the Be v. Henry S. Mackarness, the 
present incumbent of Ash, on the occasion of the 
demolition of two mills out of the three which for- 
merly stood there. The only result was the discovery 
of an iron spear-head, exceedingly corroded, and a 
small tazza of Samian ware. 

It is needless for us here to recite the conflicting 
opinions of Mr. Faussett and Mr. Douglas, or to do 
more than allude to a controversy which later autho- 
rities have pretty nearly settled. It is only since 
more critical attention has been paid to the subject 



PERAMBULATION OF THE PARISH. 117 

by the late Lord Londesborough, Mr. Thomas Wright, 
Mr. 0. B;. Smith, and other modern antiquaries, that 
we have been enabled to state with tolerable cer- 
tainty that, although indications of Roman or British- 
Romano interments may be traced, the majority of 
the relics discovered at Guilton are those of pagan 
Anglo-Saxons, from the beginning of the fifth to 
the middle of the seventh century. 

We have already (page 27) spoken of the tradi- 
tion of the Golden Idol, and expressed our con- 
viction that the ancient Guildenton was a place of 
religious as well as political importance in the early 
days of Jutish dominion, the reigns of King Ash and 
his Ashelings. Whether more discoveries may yet be 
made in this interesting spot or its neighbourhood, 
which has not been half explored, it is impossible 
to say ; but the probabilities are greatly in favour of 
it, and our hopes are now centred in the council of 
the Kentish Archaeological Society, whose attention, 
we understand, has been specially directed Ashward, 
and who propose to commence their labours at Eich- 
borough. 

A lane on our left, as we leave Guilton, leads to 
the old manor-houses of MoUand and Chequer, the 
seat of the Septvans, alias Harfleets ; but little re- 
mains of either to recall to us even the times of the 
Tudors, much less of the period when their knightly 
owners sallied forth "in complete steel," at the sum- 
mons of their lord the king, to join him at Sandwich 
and swell the gallant hosts that mustered there for 



118 A COBNER OP KENT. 

the conquest of Bretagne or the protection of Poitou.* 
The cellars beneath Holland are probably the only 
remains of that mansion which the heiress of Sir 
Nicholas de Sandwich brought in marriage to John 
de Septvans, and whose son Gilbert is said to have 
assumed the name of Harfleet in commemoration of 
some achievements under the fifth Harry at Harfleur. 
We have elsewhere expressed our doubts concerning 
this tradition ; but, be the truth as it may, neither the 
gallant lieutenant of John Lord Grey of Codnore, 
who " saw young Harry with his beaver on" at that 
celebrated siege, nor his cousin John, the esquire of 
the body to King Henry VI., whose fine effigy in 
armour is in the Holland chancel, could ever have 
looked upon any portion of the comfortable farm- 
house which now presents itself at the end of an avenue 
of limes, once, according to tradition, extending to 
the church. 

Christopher Harfleet, who succeeded to the pro- 
perty in 1559, was probably the builder of the present 
edifice, for we find here his arms, with those of his 
wife, Hefcy Hendley, in painted glass, dated 1561 ; 
also those of his father Thomas, and his grandfather 
Raymond {vide Chapter Y.). These shields of arms 
were formerly in the old parlour windows. Pour 
were removed in 1831 to a staircase window, where 

* In 1342, Edward III. sailed from Sandwich with a considerable 
fleet and army to obtain possession of the duchy of Bretagne for 
John de Montfort, and in 1372 he collected there a force of 3,000 
lancers and 10,000 archers, by summoning all men to come ready 
armed to Sandwich, and other parts, in order to save Thouars and 
the rest of Poitou. — Kymer's Foedera. Walsingham. 



PERAMBULATION OF THE PARISH. 119 

those of Thomas and Raymond have been inserted 
topsy-turvy. A fifth, sadly mutilated and put to- 
gether " anyhow," has been let into a small fanlight 
over the back parlour door. On a piece in the 
staircase window can still be read " 0. Septuans ats 

Harflete & Ma-rcie filia T. Hend armigeri 

1561." A similar inscription is legible over the shield 
in the fanlight ; Philipott says, with this motto : — 
"Dissipabo inimicos Regis mei ut paleam" — '*! will 
disperse the enemies of my King like chaflP," in 
allusion to the wheat-screens or fans for winnowing 
corn in the arms of the Septvans ; but this is not at 
present to be seen. The preservation of this glass, 
even in this dilapidated state, is, however, of con- 
siderable importance, as in a work entitled ''The 
Topographer and Genealogist,"* it is stated that a 
grant of arms to Christopher Septvans, alias Harflete, 
by Robert Cooke Clarenceux, dated 1574^, was in the 
possession of Mr. Thomas JuU, of Holland. It is clear, 
therefore, from the date in the glass, that this was not 
a grant, but a confirmation of the arms borne by 
Christopher in 1561, and engraved on his monumental 
brass in Ash church.f The family ceased to reside 
here in 1662, when Sir Christopher Harfleet, grandson 
of the Christopher just mentioned, removed to Canter- 
bury. Since that time even the house has undergone 
considerable and repeated alterations by various 
tenants, particularly by the late Mr. Austin Gardner, 
in 1831, and, with the exception of the staircase, a 

* Vol. iii. p. 286. t Vide Chapter IV. 



120 A CORNER OF KENT. 

porch over a bricked-up door, and the painted glass 
aforesaid, there are few noticeable remains of the 
domestic architecture or ornament of the sixteenth or 
even of the seventeenth century. The ample cellars, 
with their massive oaken joists and uprights, might 
be of still earlier date ; but there is nothing to verify 
the conclusion. The garden retains some character- 
istic features of the old formal style of laying out 
which immediately preceded the " landscape garden- 
ing" of the present century, and the pleasing effect 
of the church tower terminating the vista in front of 
the house makes one still more regret the demolition 
of that once noble avenue. 

Chequer Court, which stands some quarter of a 
mile further down the lane, in a more sequestered 
position, and is approached by what has been a fine 
avenue of poplars, but of which only those on the 
right remain, has undergone less alteration than Hol- 
land but cannot boast of much greater antiquity. 
The moat that defended the old manorial mansion of 
Estchequer, when Henry de Goshall went a-wooing 
to Margaret de Sandwich, still encircles the garden 
in which they may have wandered ; but the bridal 
procession of that lady fair never issued from the 
embattled porch, which, bristling with wooden can- 
non, is now, thank heaven, only needed to protect 
the occupier or visitor from a cutting wind or a 
pelting~shower. 

The previous building, however, could not have 
been much larger, as no traces of old foundations 



PERAMBULATION OP THE PARISH. 121 

have ever been met with, nor are there any indica- 
tions of the present edifice having sufPered demolition 
or important exterior alteration since its first erection, 
which we should certainly not beinclined to date earlier 
than the sixteenth century. The interior has been 
gradually modernized by its successive inhabitants, 
and no stained glass is remaining, as at Holland. A 
gateway fronting the house, where the moat is passed 
by a little bridge, was, with the stables and outhouses 
adjoining it, destroyed by fire some thirty years ago ; 
but we are informed that it possessed no distinctive 
character or ornamentation which would enable us to 
arrive at a nearer conclusion respecting the age of the 
house than we can under the present circumstances. 
Beyond Chequer Court is Nell, anciently Elmes, an 
appendage formerly of the manor of Goldston, and 
sometimes called Lee, from being the seat of the 
Leyghes in Edward III.'s time, as we have already 
stated in our notice of the manor of Goldston (page 
69). The old house has been very recently pulled 
down and an entirely new one built at some distance 
from its site. Whether the name of Elmes may have 
been derived from the forest of elms which formerly 
existed here we will not venture to say ; but immense 
numbers have been felled in this neighbourhood 
within the remembrance of the present generation, 
and agricultural interests are at this moment enforc- 
ing the continuation of the havoc, which we fear will 
only cease with the fall of the last of these beautiful 
old trees, still, for a few hundred yards, making a 



122 A CORNER or KENT. 

perfect bower of this lane during " the leafy month of 
June/' and rendering it one of the most agreeable 
walks in the parish. 

As there is no other point of interest in this lane 
between Nell and Warehorn, through which we shall 
have to pass anon, we will now retrace our steps to 
the high road and enter the village of Ash, or Ash 
Street, which commences at the mile-stone at the 
corner of this lane, under a high bank and group of 
trees sheltering E^ose Hill Cottage, a small modern 
erection, now the property of Mr. W. L. Jordan. 

The village, which has gradually arisen under the 
shadow of its church, and by the side of the high 
road or street (the Eoman stratum, the British strad) 
to Sandwich,* straggles over the brow of a hill which 
skirts the southern boundary of the parish, and sinks 
almost suddenly behind the churchyard into the 
valley of Staple. 

Except the church (a description of which we re- 
serve for an especial chapter), there is no building of 
any description remaining in it which can pretend to 
an earlier date than the 17th century, save and except 
the Chequer Inn, which stands at the corner of the 
lane leading to Cop Street, and has probably under- 
gone less alteration than any other house* in the 
parish. 

* Though street is used for road in many parts of England, it is 
particularly so in Kent, where it is applied to any lane or highway, 
running through a village, as will be observed in passing through this 
parish. To go "up" or "down street," is the usual phrase for an 
excursion into the village. 



PERAMBULATION OE THE PARISH. 123 

" The Chequers" (plural) is so common a sign for 
an inn, that were it not for the lords of Chequer in 
Ash, its designation might have passed unnoticed. 
There can be no doubt, however, that in this instance 
the inn is so named from the manor of Chequer, and 
may formerly have displayed the arms of the family 
of Septvans, alias Atchequer. That it was originally 
an inn, however, we will not undertake to say. The 
probabilities are against it. The earliest mention of 
it as an inn that we have been able to discover is as 
recent as 1707, when, from the vestry books, we 
gather that it was kept by John Beall. As the 
house must at that time have been at least two 
hundred years old, it is quite possible it may have 
been part of Chilton manor-house or court, this par- 
ticular portion of the village being in the manor, as it 
is now called, of Chequer and Chilton. 

The road, of which it forms the western corner, 
is sometimes called Vicarage Lane, as a few yards 
beyond the Chequer stands the Vicarage, a very small 
portion of which is of any considerable age, alterations 
and additions having been made by various incum- 
bents. In the cellar, on a beam, however, we find the 
initials A. H., and the date 1655, at which period it 
is probable the old house was built. It was purchased 
as late as 1813, with some land belonging to it, and 
enlarged in order to render it an eligible residence for 
the perpetual curate, the rectory, or parsonage-house, 
being occupied by one of the lessees of the great 
tythes. Beside the vicarage stands the infant school. 



124 A CORNER or KENT. 

newly built and endowed by the munificence of a 
private individual, Mr. Thomas Kelsey, of Ash Street, 
whose name may be worthily coupled with that of 
Gervase Cartwright {vide Chapter IV.). 

There are two other inns in Ash Street, of which 
we find mention a few years earlier than the notice 
of the Chequer, both of which are still in exist- 
ence, — the Lion and the Ship ; but as neither could 
pretend to an earlier date of erection, it tends to 
confirm our opinion that the Chequer was not a 
public house of entertainment before the commence- 
ment of the last century. 

The Lion, sometimes called in the vestry books 
the Red Lion, appears to have been kept in 1697 
by Thomas Horn — 

'' Paid goodman Horn, at the Lyon, spent 
upon the parish's account, at Easter 
and other times 11 9 

Paid Thomas Horn, for lodging and quar- 
tering travillers 6 3" 

In the passage facing the bar in this house is a 
small square piece of oak carving, with the figures of 
stags and human hearts, and a larger heart between 
the initials W. C, with the date 1660, whether 
originally belonging to the house we cannot undertake 
to say, but it has been there as long as any one now 
living can recollect, and was always understood to 
have formed a portion of it. The diamond pattern of 
the border, and the initials and date, recall the carving 



PERAMBULATION OF THE PARISH. 125 

of the oaken partition at Pedding, and was probably 
by the same hand. 

" Met at the Ship," constantly occnrs in the parish 
books at the beginning of the last century ; but the 
name of the host does not transpire. In 167f the 
constable was paid 4s. " for money laid out by him 
when Barber and B;ussell were kept in costodity for 
pulling down widow Pennell's signe ;" but as in those 
days signs were wont to be displayed by dealers in all 
sorts of commodities, we cannot undertake to say 
that Mrs. Pennell was the landlady of the Ship or of 
one of "the victualling houses" for ''lodging and 
quartering travillers" mentioned in 1699 (twenty 
years later), and to defray the expenses of which 
19s. 3d. were paid to Mr. Small the borsholder, or 
disburser, as that officer is denominated in later 
records. The persons paid as victuallers on that 
occasion were the widow Ewell, Adam Hammond, 
and John Beall, the latter of whom we know kept 
the Chequer in 1707. Pulling down signs, however, 
appears by the above entry to have been a frolic as 
old as the times of Charles II., and Messrs. Barber 
and Bussell figure as the respectable prototypes of 
Tom and Jerry. 

'' Ash mill," probably the one still standing behind 
the Lion, is mentioned in 1637, when Edward White 
is assessed for six acres of land belonging to it. 

On the left beyond the Lion, with a small plot 
of garden in front of it, is the school-house for the 
boys of Cartwright's charity, and in an adjacent 



126 A CORNER OP KENT. 

building the girls' scliool. The latter, with an adjoin- 
ing house for the master and mistress, were, together 
with the noble sum of £1,000, bequeathed to the 
parish by the late Mrs. Elizabeth Godfrey, of Brooke 
Street {vide Chapter IV.). The removal of these 
schools from the vestry-room and the Holland chancel 
in the church was a most beneficial arrangement. 

On the right of the street, nearly facing '*the Lion," 
a road leads down to the Moat Parm, sometimes called 
Brook House, from the "Wingham brook which rises 
close beside it ; but we must not confound it with 
Brooke House, properly so called, at Brooke Street in 
this parish, just alluded to, and of which we shall 
shortly have to speak. Moat Parm was, as early as 
Queen Elizabeth's reign, in the possession of the 
family of Stoughton. One of them — '* Edward 
Stoughton, of Ash, Gent.," whose will was proved in 
1573, bequeathed to his son Joel, amongst other 
things, " the embroidering of a vestment, set with 
5,000 pearls and more, and 2,000 spangles and more 
of silver-gilt upon the same." 

This Edward Stoughton of Ash was the great- 
grandson of Sir John Stoughton, Knight, Lord Mayor 
of London, whose second son, John Stoughton, of 
Dartford, the grandfather of Edward, married, before 
1457, Jane, one of the daughters and coheirs of 
Boger Clitherow, of Goldston in Ash, by which mar- 
riage the estate of Little Betshanger, in Eastry 
parish, came to the family of Stoughton, from whom 
it passed first to Gibbs and then to Omer, with whom 



PERAMBULATION OF THE PARISH. 127 

it remained till the decease of Lawrence Omer, of 
Ash, when his only daughter and heir, Jane, brought 
it back to the Stoughtons by her marriage with 
Thomas Stoughton of Ash, and afterwards of St. 
Martin's, Canterbury, son of Edward, of the Moat 
Parm aforesaid. Thomas Stoughton died in 1591, 
and left three daughters, his coheirs, one of whom, 
named Elizabeth, married Thomas Wilde, of St. Mar- 
tin's Hill, Canterbury, Esq., and he alienated this 
estate of the Moat Earm to Mr. John Proude, who 
resided here, as did his descendants, to the time of 
Charles II. 

John Proude of Ash, the elder, yeoman, by his 
will, proved in 1626, ordered that his executor should 
erect upon his land ** adjoining to the churchyard, 
but not upon it," a house or building of the size and 
sort therein mentioned, which should be disposed 
of always in future by the churchwardens and over- 
seers for a school-house, and for a store-house to lay 
in provisions for the church and poor ; and if they 
should not sufficiently repair it, or otherwise dispose 
of it, such person or persons to whom the adjoining 
land belonged, should enter into it and enjoy the 
same as if his bequest had not been made. We have 
taken some trouble to ascertain whether this house 
is still in existence, and believe it to be the long 
building "adjoining the churchyard, but not upon 
it," behind the Ship Inn, and which was used as 
a Wesleyan chapel in 1827. It is now appropriated 
by the rifle volunteers to the purposes of drill, &c.. 



128 A CORNER OF KENT. 

and belongs to Mr. Ash, brewer, of Canterbury, 
owner of the Ship Inn, to which property it seems 
to have become attached by some such default 
or neglect as is anticipated in the will. Whether it 
is identical with "the church-house," of which con- 
stant repairs are recorded in the Cess Books, and 
which was let at £1. 0s. 8d. per annum, we are 
unable to say, but rather think not. The '' Church 
house" appears from other evidence to have been 
situate in the street. Proude's house is said by 
Hasted to have been let at £1 per annum in his 
time. In the churchwardens' accounts for 1660, 
4d. is charged for mending the lock of " the stoarre 
(store) house," which, from the terms of the will, may 
possibly be the same building. 

John Proude, son of the above John, was church- 
warden of Ash in 1648, and from him the Moat 
Parm appears to have passed to the family of Solly 
of Pedding, by the marriage of Pichard Solly, great- 
grandson of Stephen Solly the younger, with Mary 
Proude, October 5th, 1658. Pichard Solly died pos- 
sessed of it in 1683, and his great-grandson, Edward 
Solly, Esq., was the owner in Hasted's time. Prom 
Edward it descended to the present proprietor, Samuel 
Peynolds Solly, of Manchester Square, London, Esq., 
M.A., P.P.S., and P.S.A., and is now rented of him 
by Mr. Collett, of Pingleton. 

The house, altered into a modern farm, with its 
buildings, has nothing picturesque about it but its 
situation, which is in a valley to the south-east of the 



PERAMBULATION OF THE PARISH. 129 

church, hy the side of a pretty shady lane continuing 
the road from Ash Street, and winding round the 
base of a hill called Mount Ephraim, on which stands 
a mill, until it enters the parish of Woodnesborough, 
at the hamlet of Combe. We rather think this lane 
is the '' LoYekey Street " of Edward I.'s time, men- 
tioned by Harris, as Hasted gives that name to it in 
his description of Woodnesborough, and so long ago 
as the thirteenth century one may easily believe that 
a branch from it to the right might lead by the side 
of the Wingham brook to Poulton. 

Passing through the turnpike a little beyond this 
lane, the road to Sandwich sweeps round to the left, 
another to the right leading to Dover, and crossing 
the boundary of the parish just before it enters the 
hamlet of Combe. As there is nothing to call for 
attention on the latter road, except a fine view to the 
north of Kamsgate Cliffs and Pegwell Bay, from 
the high ground which forms a sort of plateau or 
terrace in front of the straggling cottages of New 
Street, a place first mentioned in the Cess Books in 
the year 1699, we shall continue our perambulation 
along the direct road to Sandwich, passing '' the large 
and commodious workhouse," of which Hasted speaks, 
erected between the years 1725 and 1730, and since 
the establishment of the Eastry union converted into 
a brewery (that of Gardner, Godden, & Co.), and 
which, with a handsome modern mansion* in the 

* In digging the foundations of this house two fine Roman urns 
were discovered, now in the possession of Captain Godden. 

K 



130 A CORNER OF KENT. 

style of the Renaissance, called Ash-den, the resi- 
dence of Captain Godden, one of the firm, stands on 
the right hand of the road, and terminates in this 
direction the village of Ash. 

A short distance from the road on the left hand 
stands Hill's Court, or rather the remains of the 
Manor House of that name, sometimes called Hill's 
Church Gate, the residence of Sir Edward Peke at 
the close of the seventeenth century, and which now 
presents no features of either beauty or antiquity to 
arrest our attention. It is inhabited only by the 
farm servants and other persons in the employ of 
the present tenant of Goshall, which, embosomed in 
trees, rises just beyond it. In the very same field 
with Hill's Court, a little to the north, stood within 
these few years what remained of the Manor House of 
Levericks, the residence of the Ash branch of that 
ancient family. The site of it is no longer distin- 
guishable. It is represented to us as having been a 
very small brick building of the same class as Hill's 
Court and Goshall. The land is now farmed by Mr. 
Thomas Coleman, of Guston. 

At a turn of the road on the right is a large 
sand-pit, which has long been known by the name of 
Collarmaker's hole ; wherefore, nobody can inform us. 

A family of the name of Collar is frequently men- 
tioned in the Cess Book of the seventeenth century. 
Solomon Collar is assessed as an outman in 1637, but 
collar-maker is the common term used for a saddler 
or harness-maker, and some one of that trade may 



PERAMBULATION OF THE PAHISH. 131 

have formerly rented the land or resided near this 
spot. At all events, as veracious chroniclers, we 
regret to say that no wild legend, no mysterious inci- 
dent, as we had fondly imagined on first hearing of 
" collar-maker's hole," divests of its common-place 
character this solitary sand-pit, shortly after passing 
which we come in sight of Sandwich and reach the 
eastern extremity of this parish, which terminates a 
few hundred yards on the west side of Each-end turn- 
pike gate in Woodnesborough parish, and a little be- 
yond the junction of a road onthe left leading to East 
Street and Brooke Street. Before us is " the cause- 
way" mentioned as early as the reign of Henry III. 
as " the causeway or common road between Sandwich 
and Esche," Each, or Echo, being only another name 
for Esche, Esshe, and Ash. "We have close at hand 
Upper Echo and Nether Echo, and this point has 
naturally been called Each-end, as it is the eastern 
termination of the parish. Here, at any rate, we 
have no cause to regret the absence of legend or tra- 
dition. " Truth, stranger than fiction," — history, 
authenticated by official documents, invests "this 
causeway " and the common road connecting it with 
Ash, which we have for some time followed, with 
interest far superior to any derivable from " auld 
wives' tales " or rustic superstition. Along this road 
the lion-hearted Eichard of England walked barefoot 
to Canterbury on his return from captivity in Ger- 
many in 1194. Edward I., in the twenty-sixth year 
of his reign, landed at Sandwich on his return from 

K 2 



132 A CORNER OE KENT. 

Manders, and journeyed Londonward by this route. 
Edward III., who usually embarked and disembarked 
at Sandwich, must frequently have passed through 
Ash, and particularly in 1347, when, after the sur- 
render of Calais, he returned to Sandwich in very 
tempestuous weather, accompanied by his fair queen, 
Philippa, and his gallant son, Edward the Black 
Prince. That by this road that model of chivalry 
conducted his royal captive, John, king of Erance, 
after the victory of Poictiers, has been asserted by 
some historians, and doubted, though not absolutely 
disproved, by others. Instructions were certainly 
issued to prepare for the arrival and landing of the 
Prince of Wales at Plymouth, but there is no 
authentic account of his having done so. Sailing 
from Bordeaux, it w^ould certainly be the more direct 
route ; but Eroissart (chap. 172) not only positively 
says Sandwich, " where they took up their quarters 
in the town and neighbourhood, and remained two 
days to refresh themselves," but goes on to record 
their staying one day at Canterbury, where the king 
and prince made their offerings to the shrine of St. 
Thomas, resting the second day at E;Ochester, and 
the third at Dartford, and arriving on the fourth day 
at London. This account is too circumstantial to be 
lightly discredited in the absence of direct evidence 
to the contrary. 

Edward TV, was at Sandwich on Whitsun-eve, in 
the tenth year of his reign ; and, in the sixteenth, 
assembled there a magnificent army, and sailed on 



PERAMBULATION OP THE PARISH. 133 

that expedition to France which was followed by the 
peace of Pecquigni. 

Henry YIII. visited Sandwich in 1533, and again 
in 1537 ; and Queen Elizabeth was royally entertained 
there in 1573. ( Vide page 138.) 

We have no positive proof that the two latter 
sovereigns travelled by way of Ash. " Bluff King 
Hal " may have gone thither from Deal, Walmer, or 
Dover ; but when Queen Elizabeth went from the 
archbishop's palace at Beakesbourne across Barham 
Downs to Sandwich, it is highly probable, either at 
that time or on returning, the good people of Ash 
Street had a glimpse of her. There can be no doubt 
that all in the parish who had the power were present 
at the sham fight at Stonor, and very little that in 
her progress to or from Sandwich, she passed along 
some part of the road we are supposed to be travelling. 

"Whether the duke of York, afterwards James II., 
was at Ash "when his men lay there" in 1665 {vide 
page 165), does not appear; most probably not. He 
went to join the fleet at Harwich, and returned from 
that port to London after his victory over the Dutch 
on the 3rd of June ; some of the crew of the Royal 
Charles i the duke's ship, may have come ashore at 
Sandwich or Margate, as she was in the Thames later 
in the year.* Eor the last two hundred years, how- 
ever, this road has not been honoured by the passage 
of royalty, with one notable exception. Her present 

* Pepys' Journal. 



134 A CORNER or KENT. 

most gracious Majesty, when Princess Victoria, drove 
through Ash on her way to Walmer, in company with 
her illustrious mother, H.R.H. the duchess of Kent. 

Sandwich has ceased in its turn to be a point of 
embarcation for the Continent, although it yet ranks 
as one of the Cinque Ports. The South-Eastern 
Eailway monopolizes the passenger traffic between 
it and the metropolis, and Ash Street, through which, 
not many years ago, the Deal mail dashed twice a day, 
and which well-laden stage-coaches from Walmer to 
Canterbury, Heme Bay and London, kept continually 
alive with the clatter of four horses and the echoes 
of the guard's horn, is now rarely traversed by any- 
thing more imposing than a neighbouring farmer's 
dog-cart, a parson's pony chaise, or mine host 
of the Lion's daily omnibus to Canterbury. Still 
the parish bears itself bravely up. It responds 
promptly and heartily to any call upon its good 
feeling or good fellowship. It has its gay cricket 
matches, its joyous school feasts, its merry May 
games, and its genial harvest homes. Por the cele- 
bration of these two last time-honoured and truly 
English festivals it has lately, indeed, acquired a 
high and well-merited county reputation, and can 
afford to smile at the malicious old couplet, never less 
applicable to it than at present, of 

" Ash church with its peaked steeple, 
A bad parson and worse people.'* 



* Local tradition throws no light on the date or origin of this 



PERAMBULATION OF THE PARISH. 135 

But we are digressing. Let us proceed on our 
journey. 

Leaving the liigh road at this point, and taking the 
bye one to the left, of which we have spoken, we 
pass the half-dozen cottages that form the hamlet of 
East Street on our right, and arrive at Goshall, with 
its stately elms, the remains of an avenue which it is 
said stretched formerly far away towards Sandwich. 
Amongst them rises a little stream, called Goshall 
Heet, which running through Brook Street, finds 
its way across the marshes into the Stour, below 
Bichborough. 

Goshall, like Molland and Chequer, is now a com- 
fortable modernized residence. It was probably re- 
built on the site of the old hall by the Dynelys or 
the Bopers in Queen Elizabeth's time, since which 
it has undergone continual alterations, especially by 
the late Mr. Coleman,* Harris, whose History of 
Kent was published in 1719, says that there was a 
stone coffin dug up here " some ten years ago ;" and 
in his notice of Trapham, in Wingham parish, where 
a similar relic was found, he tells us that he had his 
information from " the minister of Ash." This must 
have been either poor Shocklidge, who was drowned 

libel. It must have been composed at least a hundred years ago, as 
its first circulation is "not within the memory of the oldest in- 
habitant." 

* Mrs. Coleman, his widow, and mother of the present Mr. 
Thomas Coleman, died at Goshall, September 29th, 1863, and her son 
has subsequently removed hither from Guston. 



136 A CORNER or KENT. 

in 1712, or his successor, Obadiah Browne, who was 
the incumbent to 1721. 

At an angle of the road immediately before us is the 
entrance to Brooke House, in the hamlet of Brooke 
Street, and which, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, 
was the property of John Brooke, Gent., who died in 
1582, and was buried in the north chancel of Ash 
church. He left no issue by his wife Magdalen, 

daughter of Stothard, of Mottingham, and this 

seat consequently came to the heirs of his aunt 
Bennett, sister of his father, John Brooke, and who 
had married Stephen Hougham, of Weddington. 

Prom the Houghams, after some intermediate 
owners, the estate passed to John Hayward, of Sand- 
wich, Gent., who, by Jane his wife, sister of John 
Paramour, of Stattenborough, Esq., left a daughter 
and heir named Jane, first married to John Hawker, 
and secondly to John Dilnot, Esq., of Sandwich, who, 
in her right, possessed it in Hasted's time. Mrs. 
Dilnot died without issue, Eeb. 23rd, 1790, and the 
estate passed a few years afterwards, by bequest of 
Peter Godfrey, Esq., to his kinsman, Thomas JuU, 
Esq., who assumed by Act of Parliament, 4th Jan., 
1799, the surname of Godfrey only, and from him, 
after the death of his wife Elizabeth, to his nephew, 
John Jull, Esq., who 24th May, 1810, obtained the 
Boyal licence for himself and issue to take and bear 
the name and arms of Godfrey, and died here in 
1861, sincerely lamented throughout the parish of 
Ash, in which he had, by a long life of kindness and 



PERAMBULATION OF THE PARISH. 137 

benevolence, deservedly obtained the enviable title of 
" the poor man's friend." 

Brooke House is at present the residence of his 
widow and eldest son, Mr. Ingram Fuller Godfrey, 
M.A. It was converted into a handsome villa resi- 
dence by the late Mr. Godfrey, but there is still a 
portion of the original building preserved, with the 
date of 1577 upon the ornamental end of one of the 
rafters. 

On quitting Brooke Street the road runs northward 
behind Twitham Hill, now the property of John 
Minter Tomlin, Esq., the land being farmed by Mr. 
Drayson, of Sandwich ; and Weddington, the old seat 
of the Houghams. The " Hall House at "Wedding- 
ton," specified in the will of Michael, son and heir of 
Bennett Hougham, as the one in which he dwelt, no 
longer exists, and that of Twitham Hill, so called, 
not from its position on any eminence, but from the 
family of Hills or Helles, another branch of the 
Twithams, is now, like MoUand and Goshall, nothing 
more than a comfortable farmhouse, possessing no 
interest for the antiquary beyond the recollections 
connected with the names. 

To the east the marshes stretch away to the 
Stour and the cottages of Lowton, at the foot of 
the isolated hill on which still crumble the walls of 
Bichborough. 

Passing through the hamlet of Cooper Street we 
arrive at Fleet, around which there still runs water 
enough to account for its name. The house is only 



138 A CORNER OP KENT. 

occupied by servants in the employ of Mr. Coleman 
of Guston, who uses the land which has recently passed 
into the possession of the Marquis of Conyngham. 

It is reported that Queen Elizabeth was once enter- 
tained here by the Earl of Oxford. If such was the 
fact, it must have been in 1572, on the occasion of her 
Majesty's visit to Sandwich, where she arrived on the 
31st of August, and lodged at Mr. Manwood's, a 
house in which her father. King Henry VIII., had 
lodged twice before. 

In the curious description of this visit printed in 
Boy's Collections and Nichol's Progresses of Queen 
Elizabeth, there is no mention of Eleet ; but it appears 
that '* on the next day after her arrival at Sandwich, 
being Tuesday and the 1st of September, she went to 
Stonar, where the towne having builded a fort on 
t'other side of the haven, the captains aforesaid (viz., 
Alexander Combe, Edward Peke, and Edward Wood) 
led over their men to assault the said fort, during 
which time certain Walloons, who could well swim, 
had prepared two boats, and in the end of each boat a 
board, upon which boards stood a man, and so met 
together with either of them a staff and a shield of 
wood, and one of them did overthrow another, at 
which the queen had good sport, and that done, the 
captains put their men into a battle, and taking 
with them some loose shot, gave the scarmishe (skir- 
mish) to the fort, and in the end, after the discharge 
of two falconets and certain chambers, after divers 
assaults the fort was won." 



PERAMBULATION OF THE PARISH. 139 

As this '* good sport*' and sham figlit took place on 
the Stour in front of Eichboroughj it is scarcely out 
of our province to notice it, independently of the tra- 
dition of the queen's visit to Heet in the immediate 
neighbourhood, which must have been in an unusual 
degree of excitement on such an occasion. The 
silence, however, of the contemporary chronicler 
respecting Meet, while so minutely recording every 
particular of the queen^s visit, and the absence of the 
name of the Earl of Oxford from the list of persons in 
attendance on her, or assembled to receive her, induce 
us to doubt the story of her having ever passed the 
threshold of the present or any older mansion of the 
De Veres in this vicinity. 

On our right the road runs into the hamlet of 
Eichborough, and terminates abruptly at the foot of 
the hill on which stands the castle (now the property, 
by purchase, of Denne Denne, Esq., of Elbridge Park, 
near Canterbury, and which is already sufficiently 
described in our two first chapters), and in front of 
Eichborough Earm, occupied by Mr. George Solly, 
descended from one of the numerous branches of that 
prolific tree which has flourished in this parish and 
its immediate neighbourhood for upwards of five 
hundred years, and probably from the time of the 
Conqueror. 

Turning to our left, then, we take the road to 
Guston, formerly Gurson, another moiety of the great 
manor of Elect, held by the De Veres for centuries 
under the family of Sandwich. The house was till 



140 A COENER OF KENT. 

lately the residence of Mr. Thomas Coleman, whose 
father sold this estate, with others adjacent, to the 
late Marchioness Dowager of Conyngham, and which 
are now rented and farmed by Mr. Coleman as tenant 
of the present marquis. 

Beyond Guston, to the north and east, all is 
marsh, with here and there a solitary cottage, — one 
named ^'Providence Cottage," which must surely stand 
in need of its especial care ; and heyond the Stour the 
high land of the Isle of Thanet, the village and the 
fine old church of Minster forming an agreeable 
foreground. 

Our road now brings us by Potts Parm, and 
an old hovel dignified by the title of Sparrow 
Castle, past Sandhills, to Upper and Lower Gold- 
stone, the ancient domains of the Levbournes and of 
the Clintons, Earls of Huntingdon, but retaining no 
vestige of their might or their magnificence. Of their 
later owners, the family of Toke of Goddington still 
retains possession of the manor. 

A lane on the left leads to the hamlet of Cop Street, 
so called, it would seem, from a family of the name of 
Cop or Cope, one of whom, John Cope, had lands 
granted to him in " the vill of Esshe," by John 
de Goshall, in the sixteenth year of the reign of 
Edward III., A.D. 1343,* and from thence into the 

* The witnesses to this deed, which is preserved amongst the 
Harleian Charters in the British Museum, 78 D. 30, are Henry att 
Crouch and Thomas Mollonde. 

There is a cottage and oasthouse between Cop Street and Ash, 



PERAMBULATION OP THE PARISH. 141 

village of Ash; but our road is still to the north, 
until it runs into that which traverses the parish from 
the western extremity of Guilton, past Holland, 
Chequer Court, and Nell, to Warehorn and Paramour 
Street, the latter locality taking its name from an 
old and widely-spread Kentish family, the Paramours 
of Sandwich, Stattenhorough, Ash, Eastry, and St. 
Nicholas, Thanet. Thomas Paramour, of Paramour 
Street, Ash, was seated here as early as the close of 
the fifteenth century. By his wife Cecilia, daughter 
and heir of Hambroke, he had two sons, William 
and Henry. Henry Paramour was living 16th of 
Henry VIII., A.D. 1525, and by his wife, Alice Por- 
nell, had a son, John, who married Jane, daughter 
of Thomas Beke, of Wickham Breaux. Their son 
Thomas married, first, Anne, daughter of Michael 
Hougham, of Weddington, and, secondly, Maria, 
daughter of E;ichard Sampson, of London, and widow 
of Bobert Garth, of London. This Thomas resided at 
Pordwich, and was Mayor of Canterbury in 1619 ; and 
from his epitaph in Minster Church, Isle of Thanet, 
in which he is called " our champion," it is probable 
he was the " Thomas Param or" whose wager of battle 
respecting lands in the Isle of Harty was so singularly 
terminated in Tothill Pields, London, A.D. 1571. 
But of this and other matters connected with this 



now called Crackstakes, which we think may be a corruption of 
Crouch or Cruxstakes. A family of the name of Copp was in 
existence in this parish in 1619. 



142 A COUNER OF KENT. 

ancient and numerous family we shall speak in our 
fifth chapter to those who take an interest in genea- 
logical details, contenting ourselves at present with 
pointing out to our fellow-traveller Paramour Grange, 
the family mansion, which was alienated to the Eul- 
lagers, one of whom, Mr. Christopher PuUager, of 
Maidstone, was the owner in Hasted's time. Turning 
to the west at Warehorn, we proceed to Ware,* for- 
merly the property of the Crayfords, of whom it was 
purchased hy John Paramour, of Stattenborough, 
Esq., who dying without issue in 1750, it came to his 
three nieces, two of them being daughters of his sister, 
Mary Paramour, wife of Thomas Puller, of Sandwich, 
gentleman ; and the third, Jane, daughter of Jane, his 
other sister, by John Hayward, of Sandwich, and wife 
of William Boteler, of Eastry, Esq., who on a division 
of the estates became entitled to it in her right. 

Between Wareham and Ware are two roads on the 
right. One, running parallel with Paramour Street, 
leads to Bereling Street, t a name which is as ancient 
in this parish as the time of Bichard I., as we find an 
Adam de Bereling holding lands in Elect under the 

* A William at Ware was one of the constables of the hundred 
of Wingham at the time of Wat Tyler's rebellion, 4th of Richard II., 
A.D. 1381. 

t Occasionally written Barding Street in the old Cess Books of the 
17th century, and also called Brewer Street and Brasing Street, appel- 
lations obviously derived from the original name of Bere(6eer)ling, 
a manor anciently belonging to the Maminots, ancestors of the 
Crevecoeurs, and the church of which was given by Walkeline 
Maminot to the Priory of Bermondsey. 



. PERAMBULATION OP THE PARISH. 143 

Avranches and Beauchamps in 1197. The other road 
runs almost due north through Westmarsh to within 
a short distance of the Stour, near to Stourmouth, 
the extreme northerly point of the parish. 

Westmarsh is the largest hamlet in Ash, and is 
now in a separate ecclesiastical district, having a 
small church, built in 1841, and dedicated to the 
Holy Trinity.* 

Beyond this, in the middle of the marshes, stands 
a group of cottages called Houghton (query. Out 
town) ; one is a very old, half-timbered house, per- 
haps the oldest unaltered one in the parish. 

Turning to the south-west on leaving the village of 
Westmarsh, we come to Wingham Barton, still the 
property of the Bekes or Beakes of Wickham Breus, 
who held it in Hasted's time. The ancient mansion 
or manor-house of Barton was granted fourth of 
Edward YI. to Sir Anthony St. Ledger. It is pro- 
bably the one still standing — a long, low, white- 
washed building, utterly destitute of architectural 
ornament. 

Another sharp angle of the road at the hamlet of 
Housden, or XJphousen, brings us to the very verge 
of the parish at a place called Sherewater, from which 
a road branches off to Elmstone, entering immediately 

* The funds for this purpose beiog entirely collected, and princi- 
pally contributed by, Bishop Nixon, then the incumbent. A place 
called Cold-marsh is frequently mentioned in the old assessments, 
before we hear of Westmarsh, and may possibly indicate the same 
locality. 



144 A CORNER OP KENT. 

the parish of that name, which here forms the north- 
western boundary of Ash. 

Skirting this boundary, the road passes through 
Hoden, a seat of the ancient family of St. Nicholas 
in this parish, whose principal messuage here in the 
seventeenth century was called *'The Mote." Here 
again we must refer our antiquarian friends, or 
" those whom it may concern," to our fifth chapter 
for details of this highly interesting family, who by 
their intermarriages with the heiresses of the Goshalls, 
the De Campanias, Septvans, Manstons, &c., might 
boast of their descent from the noblest houses in 
England, yet never attained in their own person to 
higher honour than knighthood, and have died out, 
leaving even in their own county nothing to remember 
them by beyond their names and arms upon their 
decaying gravestones. Thomas St. Nicholas, of Ash, 
gentleman, by his will proved in 1626, appears to have 
resided at '* The Mote " here, and devised it to his son 
Thomas, whose daughter Elizabeth* in 1655 brought 
it in marriage to Mr. Wittingham Wood, after whom 
it passed to Nathaniel Elgar, of Sandwich, Esq. 

Behind Hoden a little to the west is Overland, in 

* Mr. Hasted calls her Grace; but the following registration 
of the marriage must surely be conclusive : — " The publication of 
Wittingham Wood, of the City of Canterbury, Esq'*^., and Elizabeth 
St. Nicholas, the daughter of Thomas St. Nicholas and Susanna his 
wife, 3rd, 7th, and 14th of November, in Sandwich Market-place, 
and they were married the 25th day of December, 1655, by Justice 
Foat of Canterbury." — (Ash Registers.) She is also described as 
" Elizabeth, y^ sole daughter of Thomas St. Nicholas," in the mural 



PERAMBTJLATION OE THE PARISH. 145 

the borough of that name, so called, as we have 
previously stated, from the Saxon ofer, a shore, being 
the high ground which anciently formed the bank 
of the Stour, according to Somner, and we may add 
the shore of the sea, which undoubtedly covered all 
the marsh below it in the time of the Eomans. 

Overland formed part of the enormous possessions 
of Johanna de Leybourne, " the Infanta of Kent," 
and has belonged at various periods to several of the 
greatest of our English families. Prom Hoden the 
road still skirts the boundary of the parish to Nash, 
and thence to the road from Preston, which divides 
it from Staple, and brings us out into the high road 
from Canterbury at Guilton Parsonage, thus com- 
pleting our perambulation. 

The tourist in search of the picturesque will not 
be tempted to follow our path. The general traveller 
may consider it all barren '' from Dan to Beersheba." 
With the exception of two or three shady lanes, 
agreeable enough in the height of summer, the 
parish of Ash, within its bounds, possesses little 
rural beauty, and the ruins of Eichborough are 
devoid of those romantic features which give to the 
towers of a feudal fortress, '' nodding to their fall," 
an indescribable charm in the eyes of the least 
imaginative spectator. The church, which we have 

tablet of her husband in Ash Church {vide chap, v.), on which the 
introduction of the word "Grace," in large letters, has evidently 
been the origin of the error. 

L 



146 A COENER OP KENT. 

yet to notice, is probably the only object that would 
arrest the attention of the casual visitor, and could 
scarcely fail to repay him for the trouble of its 
inspection. But in historical associations, in archaeo- 
logical interest, few parishes in the United Kingdom 
perhaps can equal, and certainly none surpass, that 
of Ash next Sandwich. 

It is also remarkable in other respects. Half 
of it a huge sandbank deposited by the sea, which 
gradually retiring has left the other half a marsh, 
the value of its pasture and arable land has nearly 
trebled during the present century, while its nume- 
rous and prolific gardens supply not merely the 
markets of all the neighbouring towns and watering- 
places ; but to a very great extent even the celebrated 
one of Covent Garden, London, with fruit and 
vegetables; Mr. Thomas Sutton, of Ash, being one 
of the most considerable market gardeners in England. 
The climate is cold, but in the higher portions of 
the parish from Guilt on to New Street the situation 
is healthy, a fresh sea-breeze sweeping across the low 
grounds, neutralizing the effects of what some of the 
good folks in the neighbourhood call the ^^ marshal 
air." The' bells in the adjacent parish of Wingham 
rang in November, 1861, in celebration of the 
hundredth birthday of a hale and clear-minded 
dame who was born at Ash in 1761, and lived to 
enter the second year of her second century. Her 
daughter is still a parishioner here, whole and hearty 
at eighty-four. But a few years ago another female 



PERAMBULATION OF THE PARISH. 147 

centenarian on her birthday was carried out of the 
village into a cornfield, where she bravely reaped and 
bound a sheaf of wheat with her own hands, and was 
borne back with it in triumph. A cheerful old body 
now living in Ash Street* only complains that at 
ninety-seven she can't " prowl " as she was wont ; 
and although we will not presume to say of our 
parish as the American did of his, '^ If you want to 
die you must go into the next, for you can't die 
here," we may still claim for it a very creditable 
position in the records of the E^egistrar-General.t 

With the before-mentioned exceptions of E;ich- 
borough and the church, no buildings remain of any 
considerable antiquity. During the Middle Ages, 
down to the time of the Tudors, the habitations of 

* She died as this book was passing through the press, Oct. 6th, 
1863, having just entered her ninety-eighth year. 

t We may remark here that in the year 1572, when the plague 
was at Sandwich, in July, the burials at Ash during the whole 
twelve months, from April, 1572, to the end of March, 1573, amounted 
but to 21, and in the following twelve months but to 17, — but 
one person (Rebecca, daughter of Hamlet Taylor) being buried in 
the month of July, 1572, and none in the months of May, June, and 
July, 1573. The plague was again at Sandwich in 1597, when the 
number of burials at Ash reached 36, rather exceeding the annual 
average, which at this period was about 24. In 1635, at a third 
visitation of that dreaded pestilence, the deaths at Ash were 22 
rather under the average ; and in 1665, the year of the great plague 
of London, but 16. That there have been sickly years in this parish, 
as well as in others, we do not for a moment deny. In 1592 and 
1593, the deaths, from some prevailing malady we presume, but of 
which we find no record, reached to 67 in the former and Q2 in the 
latter year. 

L 2 



148 A CORNER OF KENT. 

persons of consideration and property were princi- 
pally composed of wood. Here and there a castle 
or moated and crenelated mansion might be found 
of stone ; but the generality of dwelling-houses de- 
served the contemptuous remark of the foreigner 
in the suite of Philip of Spain, who declared that 
English houses were built of '^ sticks and dirt." In 
the fifteenth century, at the great epoch of the revival 
of the Arts, domestic architecture experienced the 
influence of the "renaissance," not only in orna- 
mental design, but in scientific construction. Many 
of the finest of those old red-brick "courts" and 
" halls " which rear their quaint gables and enormous 
stacks of decorated chimneys above "the ancestral 
oaks " of our nobility and gentry, were erected in the 
reign of Henry YIII., and a still greater number 
during those of Elizabeth and James I., at which 
period there was such a rage for building in London 
that it was found necessary to restrict it by Act of 
Parliament.* It would seem as if at this latter 
period all the landed proprietors in this part of the 
country had, by common consent, in obedience to the 
Boyal mandate insisting on the residence of the 
nobility and gentry on their estates, determined to 
rebuild their manor-houses and " capital messuages," 
and leave no vestige of the homes of their fathers 



* Several proclamations were issued during the reigns of Elizabeth, 
James, and Charles I. on this subject, and prosecutions commenced 
against noble persons of both sexes who disregarded them. 



PERAMBULATION OP THE PARISH. 149 

or of their feudal lords, to gratify the curiosity of a 
later generation. Even the better sort of cottages 
are of brick and of this date, or altogether of very 
recent construction. Pew are to be seen of wood, and 
but two, to the best of our recollection, of that 
picturesque admixture of blackened timber and white 
plaster which produces so charming an effect in 
many parts of this county, in which such buildings 
are sometimes called " needlework houses," no doubt 
from the fashion prevalent in the fifteenth century 
of embroidering shirt collars, cuffs, and other linen 
articles of apparel with black or dark-blue silk. 
We are left therefore, unfortunately, in complete 
ignorance of the character and class of the mansions 
inhabited by the nobles and knights who actually 
resided in the parish of Ash during the twelfth, 
thirteenth, and fourteenth centuries. That some, if 
not all, of the manor-houses were moated, we have 
existing evidence ; and we may conclude that in those 
times they were to a certain degree fortified, but as 
to their size or internal arrangement, the materials 
of which they were constructed, or the distinguishing 
features of their architecture, we are in total darkness. 
Contemporary examples in other parts of England, 
or even of Kent, would be but of little service to 
us. The soil, the situation, are both exceptional, 
and it is therefore still more to be deplored that no 
relic should remain of edifices so peculiarly inter- 
esting to us. One most remarkable fact respecting 
them is their exceedingly close proximity to each 



150 A CORNEE OE KENT. 

other. The manor-houses of Hills Court and of 
Levericks actually stood in the same field, and that 
not a large one, and Goshall in the next, so near 
that an urchin might fling a stone from either into 
the windows of the other. Twitham Hills could not 
have been beyond a bow-shot of Levericks, and 
Weddington scarcely a greater distance from the 
former. Molland and Chequer Court are not sepa- 
rated by more land than would be required to form 
a small park for a modern country house; and although 
the rest stand farther apart from each other, the 
distance is in no case considerable. In these happy 
days of domestic peace and social intercourse, such 
contiguity may be very agreeable, and cannot under 
any circumstances be greatly inconvenient; but in 
the time of bills and bows, mail-shirts and steel caps, 
when family feud or party strife might suddenly set 
the whole parish by the ears, — when a tenant by 
knight's service could be summoned by the great 
lord of the fee to take arms with all his retainers 
against the holder of an adjoining manor — his nearest 
kinsman, perchance, as well as his nearest neighbour, 
— the position must have been vastly embarrassing. 
Fortunately, however, we have reason to believe, 
from the absence of all evidence to the contrary, 
that this particular district, however it might have 
sufi'ered by the depredations of the Danes before the 
Conquest, or on the occasional landings of the French 
at Sandwich in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, 
escaped in its own immediate locality the horrors of 



PERAMBULATION OF THE PARISH. 151 

civil war, and was never seriously disturbed by private 
quarrels or domestic discords. 

The popular tumults in the reign of Eichard II. , 
when Wat Tvler of Essex and John Abel of Erith, on 
Monday, 10th of June, 1381, dragged William Sept- 
vans, the Sheriff of Kent and the kinsman of John of 
Ash, from Canterbury to Milton, and compelled him 
under the fear of death to deliver up to them fifty 
rolls of the pleas of the county and all the writs of 
the king in his custody, and burnt them the same 
day at Canterbury, do not appear to have extended 
to Ash, though outbreaks took place so near it as 
Ickham, Littlebourne, and Chillenden, as well as in 
various parts of the Isle of Thanet, and amongst the 
parties compromised we find the names of John 
Twytham and John Clerk of Preston ; but they were 
found not guilty by the Jurors of the Hundreds of 
Wingham and Eastry, according to their present- 
ment. The fearful passions awakened by the wars of 
the Eposes, however they may have affected the 
knightly families who possessed property in the 
parish at that period, do not seem to have given rise 
to any memorable incident within its boundaries. 
Even the calamitous troubles preceding the establish- 
ment of the Commonwealth have left no record of 
their visitation of Ash in the minute accounts of the 
parochial authorities. 

Parishes were first made liable to the relief of the 
poor by Act of Parliament in the forty-third year 
of the reign of Elizabeth, A.D. 1601, and the church- 



152 A COENER OE KENT. 

wardens' accounts for tliat and the eight following 
years have been partially preserved. There is then a 
hiatus unfortunately for twenty-five years, but from 
1634 an unbroken series exists to the present day. 
The first six pages of the earliest book are imperfect, 
and the names of the parish officers do not appear 
till 1603, when the churchwardens were Ethelbert 
Omer, and Eobert Atwood, and Thomas Gibbs — 
Humphrey Gardiner and Thomas Harlowe, overseers. 
The examiners of the accounts for 1603 were John 
Stebbing, Henry Harfleet, Thomas St. Nicholas, 
Richard Hougham, Ethelbert Omer ; and the accounts 
were allowed by Thomas Harfleet and Thomas Enge- 
ham. The entries in this book are nearly all of small 
weekly payments to the poor ''in relief," and there 
are no notices of the parish or church which deserve 
extracting; but from the pages of the other books, 
containing the receipts and expenses of the church- 
wardens and overseers for upwards of two hundred 
years, we gain considerable authentic information 
respecting the affairs of the parish from the time of 
Charles I., and much that is generally illustrative of 
manners and customs, as well as particularly interest- 
ing to the inhabitants of Ash. As an example of 
these Cess Books, we give the whole of the payments 
of one of the churchwardens for 1634 verbatim et 
literatim^ after which we shall only extract such 
entries as are either curious or amusing in themselves, 
or bear directly on the history of the church and 
parish. The book commences with the following 



PERAMBULATION OF THE PARISH. 153 

information : — '' Anno Domini 1633, there was a ces 
made in Ash by the churchwardens and constable and 
oyerseears aftar the reate of on peny the Ackar and a 
peny for eyary house towards the E^epayrasions of 
the parish church of Ash, which did amount too 
£26. 16s. lid. ;" then, after a few unimportant entries 
of receipts and some layings out by Hichard Carr, one 
of the churchwardens,* we come to the subjoined 
account of his brother officer, Michael Inkpet : — 

Seare followetJi the layings out of Michael Inkpet, ^ 

Item, for quit-rent to Chilton Court, Aprill 

the 14th day, 1634, for the church hous.. £0 8 
Item, payd too John Tomson for breed and 
wine for 7 monthly communions, begin- 
ning the i day of Jully, and the ending 

the second of March 1 7 1 

Item, for sand for the church 8 

Item, for expenses 6 

Item, to fouar travillars 4 

Item, for a pies of timbar 1 2 

Item, for 27 pound and a half of sadar 

(solder) for the leedes 17 6 

Por three days worke for the pllumer and 

his son 10 

For a masons worke about the church 2 

* By the same book we find that he was assessed for the year 
1635, at Hichborough, for 2Qi acres. 

t He appears to have resided at this time at Guilton Town, where 
he paid cess in the following year for 5 acres. 



154 A CORNER OF KENT. 

Item, too 2 travillars £0 6 

Item, for three hordes for the church 2 

And a pies of timbar 6 

And for sande 4 

And for expensses on the workmen 2 

Item, too 2 travillars 3 

Item, for a brush, brome, and a mon* 

basket 5 

Item, for a loade of lime 9 6 

Item, too the gllazar for mending the win- 
dows 15 4 

Item, too Thomas CouUson for worck about 

the church 2 

And too Haman the mason for worcking... 10 

Item, brom, brush, & key 10 

And too 4 sefaring man 4 

Item, for a small corde and for rosen 4 

Item, for dyet for worckmen 2 8 

And for a small pices of timbar 6 

Item, for a proctars fees 10 

Item, too 6 travillars 2 

Item, too Abraham Whetstone for worcke. 5 

Item, for a sarvis boocke for the church... 9 10 

Item, for a sacke of charcolle 1 6 

Item, too Coullson for working at the 

church 16 

And for expences at that tim 10 

Item, for a pUancke and A boord 12 

* Maund Basket — an oblong shallow basket without a cover, used by- 
ostlers in this part of the country for carrying keep for their horses in. 



PERAMBULATION OF THE PARISH. 155 

And for A hundred of lates £0 1 4 

And for nayles 4 

Por half A dayes worcke too CouUson 6 

Por too dayes worcke of the mason 3 

Item, for bring(ing) of boords from Sand- 
wich 1 6 

For ringing on gonpowder treson day 2 6 

Givin to John Broun, a travellar 8 

And too another travellar 3 

Por Coullson and his son working 3 

Item, for Brickes 6 

Item, too 5 Travellars 10 

Item, for this papar boocke 3 8 

Item, for bringing of Boordes from Sand- 
wich 2 

Item, too A poor scollmastar 10 

Item, for a load of clay bringing 1 

For searching of Mary Dikson And another 

mayd suspacted 2 

Item, for 32 foot of timbar 18 8 

Item, for too pUanckes 6 3 

Too Thomas CUifard for on day & a half 

for himself an his man 4 

For a pice of ocke for the bells 14 

Item, for on days worcke at church. And 
another day too towne for bords too 

Eichard Sandar ,. 3 

Item, slliting of too delle boordes 6 

Item, for nayles and spickes & houldfastes, 

fet (?) at Thomas Baxes 9 



1 








8 





2 


3 


10 





6 


2 


6 





6 



156 A CORNER OF KENT. 

Per iron worcke about the third bell £0 

Naylls for mastar Gibbeses pewe 

Por sharpling of the church mathocke 

Item, for a new shufell a new sparde 

And iron for too lay in the church wall ... 
Por mending of the gugen of the fourth 

Bell an maeking 5 wedges theareto 

Por too Staples for the Keeches of the Bells 
A cech for the church gate for brades, a 

houldfast an a flaylle 6 

For spikes, naylles and priges for the church 

and church hous 3 11 

Item, for Thomas Cliffard and his man's 

worcking at the church 

Por too days worck of Thomas CouUson ... 

Three days worck of A mason 

Por hearre (hair) 

Por sande 

Por collaring the new pewes 

Por bringing of a load of paying tiles 

Givene too 2 travillars 

Item, too Bichard Sandar and thomas 

Cliffard for pulling up of ould pewes and 

seting up of new in the north winge of 

theOhurch 2 17 

Item, for boordes to macke thoues new 

pewes and mend othar 3 5 

Item, too Simon Barow for washing and 

cleaning all the linan an the other 



4 





2 





4 








6 





4 


1 





2 








4 



PERAMBULATION OE THE PAHISH. 157 

tMnges Bee-longing to the Communion 

Table £0 5 

Item, for writing of the eeas which is men- 
tioned in the beegining of this acounte 2 

And for writing of Acounte 2 6 

Por expences at our Acountes writing the 

3rd of June 1634 3 9 

The layings out in the Year of our Lord^ 1634 : 

Item, at the visitation for Mastar Brigame's 
Ordinary and the dinar of us church- 
wardens and sydemen Aprill the 15th 

daye £0 10 

Item, for an Articll Boocke on our othes 

taeking 4 

Item, for the Billes of presentment writing 3 
And for the expences of the writing thearof 6 
Item, spent at the wallkin of the peram- 

bewlasion 2 

Item, givin to a travillar 4 

Item, for leading and banding of 13 foot 

of gUas 3 3 

And for 41 quares of new gllas for the 

Church windowes 3 5 

Item, too three trauellars at seuarall times 18 
Item, too Mychall wood for 5 batharers 

lethars 18 

Payd too Silluistar Cooke Apon oulld 
Recknings for te Church worcke ABout 
the gates And belles 056 



158 A COKNER or KENT. 

Payd too Thomas Coullson for A dayes 

worcke £0 1 

And for his ficting too Ladars from beekes 

boarn (Beaksbourne) 1 

Item, payd for bread and wine for the Estar 
communions beeing 6 in numbar and the 
partyes 623 which reseved for Estar in 

the yeare 1634 the sume 24 10 

Item, payd too William Mathyes for A 
Tribell Eoop and a Tenar Eoope of 
vi pence the pound beeing xvij pound... 8 6 

Item, given too 6 poor sefaring men 1 

And too A poor man & his wife 6 

And to John Cooke a poor travillar 4 

Item, payd for the hoode an typet for the 

minister 27 7 

And for mending of the surplis 10 

Item, payd to tomas brown for on quartar 
of A year keeping the dodgs out of the 

church 2 

Item, given too A travilling gentillwoman 10 

Item, to too travilling men in destres 10 

Item, to A travillar and his wif which had 

bin A souldiar and the Kinges pas 1 

Item, to to souldiers mor 8 

Item, given to a man which had bin with 
The Kinge for hellp for the Kinges Evells 

for his wife and 3 childdren 16 

Item, spent whene met to give up this 

Acounte 10 



PERAMBULATION OF THE PARISH. 159 

Item, to henary waties, scoole mastar, for 

writing of A Jaylle ses £0 1 

Item, to a poore travillar 3 

And to anothar travillar with a lame arme 3 
Item, payd too master brigham for writing 
of the bill of preesentment the first day 

ofOctober 10 

And for our expences at that time 4 

Item, given too 2 poor souldiars which had 

A travilling pas 1 

Item, puting in of the bill, and my expences 10 
Item, payd to Johhn tomson, the 6 day of 
October, for the bread and wine of fouar 

monthly Communions 15 8 

Item, given to 2 travillars 6 

Payd to thomas brown for A quartars 
wadges for whipping the doges out of 

the church 2 

Item, layd out at the Corte 1 4 

Giveen to thomas woodrufe A preachar for 

his acxarsies in our minestars absence ... 5 8 

To a poor travillar 6 

Given to the ringars, the 5 day of November 4 
Item, for 13 hundared of brickes for the 
Church yard walles, bought of Sur frances 

CUarke 19 

And for bringing them from Gillthan Toune 

to the church 3 4 

And for lime and sande and caring of it . . . 10 
And William Clarke had for his measson 

worcke about the walles...... 16 



160 A CORNER OP KENT. 

Item, giveene to a travillin minnistar £0 1 4 

Item, for expeneeses at Cantarbury 1 4 

Giveen to a poor travilar 6 

Item, pay d for a pices of timbar 1 4 

Item, payd for to new bellroopes 7 3 

Item, for a boord for the eliurcli hous 1 6 

And to Thomas CUiffard half a days worcke 9 

Item, to a travilling minnistars widow ... 6 

Item, for onr expencses when wee E>od to 

Ashford to the shreve (sheriflP) a bout 

the Cesse for the shipes,* and for the 

boeke casting up of the Acers of land in 

our parish 13 6 

Item, for mending of the gllass windowes 

of the Church lofte or scoUe houes 3 10 

Item, payd to Thomas browne for his 
Christmas quartars wadges for whiping 

The dodges oute of the Church 2 

Item, payd to John tomson for the breed 

and win of 3 monthly Communions 14 5 

And for our Expenses at seyarall meet- 

inges about the parish busines 4 5 

Item, layd oute apone gooing to Cantar- 
bury, Apon to sitasions a boute the parish 

busines 4 

Item, given to tenn pore travellars 10 

* This was the obnoxious " ship money " tax, one of the three 
principal and proximate causes of the Great Eebellion. 



PERAMBULATION OP THE PARISH. 161 

Item, for Eepayaring of the gUass windows, 
for 134 peans of new gllas, and sadaring 
of the ould leedes of the windowes £0 22 9 

Item, payd to Simon barrowes wife for 
washing the Communion linan and 
souring the pllate and pewtar for on year 5 

And to Simon Barrow for tacking the Com- 

municats names all the yeare, monthly.. 4 

And for the writing of this acount and the 

cesse following to Simon Barrow 5 

Item, payd to Thomas Goullson for chinch- 
ing of the gUas windowes with lime and 
heare 10 

In the year 1635 we meet with the two following 
entries, which tell their own story : — 

Given to one poor Man and his wife and 
too female children, being driven from 
their dwelling by reson of the wars and 
their house burnt £0 1 

Given to Mr. John Carig (? Carrick or 
Craig), driven from Youghall in Ireland 
by the rebels 1 

In 1635-6, the number of persons assessed in the 
parish was 150 ; out-men (^. e., owners or tenants of 
land not residing in the parish), 75; cottagers, 36: 
total, 261. 

In 1653 Thomas Beere, senior, churchwarden, 
accounts for the sum of £1. 5s., '^ received of Jfr, 

M 



162 A COENER OF KENT. 

Thomas St. Nicholas, Esq.^ given by Mr. Camden's 
last will and testament as an annuity payable to the 
churchwardens of Ash aforesaid, to be bestowed — 5s. 
to the clerk and sexton, and 5s. to be retained to the 
usex)f themselves, and 15s. to the use of the poor of the 
same parish, which is disposed as forthwith amongst 
the poor." This is what is called sometimes the 
Toldervey Gift or Charity ; but in addition to this gift 
Mr. Hasted states that '*Mr. E^ichard Camden, in 
1642, gave by will 40 perches of land, now in the 
occupation of William Chapman, for the use of the 
poor, and of the annual produce of 15s., which land 
is vested in the minister, churchwardens, and other 
trustees,"* thereby making two bequests to the parish 
instead of one. The fact is, that Mr. Camden, who 
was a connection by marriage of Mr. Toldervey, t left 
£20 to be invested in a house or lands, so as to 
produce a yearly sum of £1. 5s., to be disposed of as 
above stated, — the five shillings to the churchwardens 
being to buy them gloves, or to spend at a meeting, 
^^ as they shall think fit," and the five shillings to the 

* Vide Chapter lY., where in the list of lands, tenements, and 
benefactions, this gift is mentioned without the name of the donor, 
the words "in the occupation of William Chapman" referring appa- 
rently to the date of tlie inscription, which is 1742, one hundred 
years later than the period of the donation, or rather date of the will. 

t Christopher Toldervey, of Chatham, Esq., married Jane, daughter 
of Sir Thomas Harfleet, and died in 1618; and Eichard Camden's 
second wife was Sarah, daughter of John Darrell, of Calehill, Esq., by 
the Lady Dorothy Harfleet, second wife and widow of Sir Thomas, and 
mother, or mother-in-law^ of Jane Toldervey, 



PERAMBULATION OF THE PAHISH. 163 

clerk and sexton as payment for keeping clean the 
Toldervey monument in Ash Church. The church- 
wardens to whom this bequest was made in trust 
were in that year Thomas Beere, senior, and John 
Solly, who, in conformity with the testator's direc- 
tions, bought with the £20 an annuity, secured upon 
land, the property of Mr. Thomas St. Nicholas, of 
Hoden (son of the Thomas who died in 1626), who 
by his deed of the 24th of January, 1653, acknow- 
ledges the receipt of the £20, and charges the 
land in question, which was in Elmstone parish,'* 
with the annual payment of twenty-five shillings 
accordingly. 

The inaccuracy is easily to be accounted for, as 
there are entries in the Cess Books of receipts for 
£1. 5s. of Mr. St. Nicholas, as "a gift from Mr. 
Touldervy," and the original deed is actually endorsed 
" Toldervy Charity *' instead of Camden Charity, 
which it certainly is, and, to increase the confusion, 
is occasionally so termed in the churchwardens' 
accounts. 

It is amusing to examine local traditions, generally 

* " All that my piece or parcel of arable land commonly called 
Hales Close, containing by estimation seven acres and a half, more or 
less, and now in the custody of me Thomas St. Nicholas, lying and 
being in the parish of Elmstone, in the county aforesaid." — (Original 
deed in the Muniment Chest in Ash Church.) Mr. Hasted says, 
"Mr. Thomas St. Nicholas, who died in 1626, left an annuity of £1. 5s. 
charged on his estate of Hoden, for the repairing and keeping clean 
of the Toldervy monument, &c." We have carefully examined the 
will, and it contains no such bequest. 

M 2 ■ ' 



164 A CORNEE OE KENT. 

fonnded to some extent upon facts, and see hovr inge- 
niously stories are constructed upon them. The 
bequest of five shillings for gloves to the church- 
wardens, in conjunction with that of five to the clerk 
and sexton '^ to look to the monument " of Christopher 
Toldervy, has given rise to a belief that the gloves 
were to be white, and that the churchwardens were 
to pass their hands in them over the monument, so 
as to detect the slightest dust or dirt if any remained 
upon it, in which case the clerk and sexton would 
lose their annual gratuity. 

The only characteristic entry during the time of 
the Commonwealth is under the year 1655, when the 
churchwarden accounts for 6s., " received for a fine 
for Mr. William Eaker, for his profane swearing in 
the parish of Ash." 

Prom April, 1655, to the Eestoration in 1660, no 
incumbent of Ash officiated at a marriage ceremony. 
The publication of the banns was made in Sand- 
wich or other market-places, and the parties were 
married by a justice of the peace or the minister of 
another parish. 

In 1660 there is an entry of 3d., paid " for setting 
up of the king's arms," and another of 5d. to the 
ringers upon 'Hhe King's Crownacion-day," which 
is all we find respecting the restoration of the 
Monarchy. 

In 1662, however, there was Is. 6d. given in relief 
to two women by order, '' their husbands being killed 
in the king's service." 



PEEAMBULATION OE TKE PAEISH. 165 
1665. 

Paid to the ringers when the Dake 

of York's men lay in Ashe'^ £0 6 

Tor matting of my new pew (Robert 

Wood's, churchwarden) 2 

1677. 
Paid for one Bible forty-five shillings, 
and for one Common Prayer Book four- 
teen shillings, and the hoy-man t for 
bringing them down from London one 
shilling, (in) all £3 

1678. 

Paid for a new Begister Book for the regis- 
tering of all persons buried in woollen, 
as was commanded £0 3 

Paid for the Act of Parliament to that end 6 

By this Act, which was passed for the encourage- 
ment of the woollen trade, the parties contravening 
it were liable to a penalty of £5, and we accordingly 
find in the accounts for 1679 : " Here followetli the 
names of those persons that received of the church- 
wardens of Ash the five pounds paid by David Ben, 
of Eastry, for burying his son, John Den, of Ash, in 
linen, made payable by that Act made for burying 

* After the DuWs great victory over tlie Datcli fleetj commanded 
by Tromp and Opdam, June 3rd, 1665. 

t The Sandwich hoy stills runs to and from the port of London. 



166 A CORNER OF KENT. 

all persons in woollen," — £2. 10s. being paid "to 
John Priend, informer," and the rest to the poor. 
The persecution of the Protestants in Prance, and 
their consequent emigration to England, is indicated 
in the year 1686 by the following entry : — 

"May 30. Collected then towards the french 
protestants' Erief, in the parish of Ash next Sand- 
wich, in the county of Kent, the sum of three pounds 
nine shillings and sixpence. (Signed) John Smith, 
deac; William Price, and John May, churchwardens." 

Of the great revolution of 1688 we find no distin- 
guishable traces. The only remarkable entry during 
that year is under the date of May 7th : — 

Given to 15 Welsh that had a warrant 
to collect the charity of all well-disposed 
people, 8 parishes being drowned by the 
sea £0 10 

1689. 
Gave to 14 poor distressed persons who 
had lost by sea and fire the sum of 
£2,750, and (some ?) of their husbands 
killed by a Prench Privateer, as appeared 
by their certificate 2 

Immediately following the munificent distribution 
of two shillings amongst fourteen destitute and 
bereaved creatures, we read : — 

Paid John Chandler for killing of an otter 

in our parish £0 2 6 



PERAMBULATION OF THE PARISH. 167 

Paid Stephen Cox for going to Canterbury 
for orders for the militia going to Canter- 
bury at the same time £0 2 8 

ffor writing these accoumps and soming of 

them up 2 6 

The accomplished scholar who earned half a crown 
by the extraordinary feat just recorded, is not without 
a rival in these records. In the extraordinary expenses 
of Eichard May, 1715-16, is the mysterious entry, — 

Pd. a pon a p.articklear ocassion £1 7 6 

As the date, however, is the 5tli of November, we 
think it is a pretty clear occasion, and were we in- 
clined to speculate, the delicate manner in which the 
Popish plot is alluded to would induce us to imagine 
Master Richard May was not the soundest of Pro- 
testant parish officers. There is little after this date 
to interest even the local reader, and we shall there- 
fore conclude this section of our work with a fev/ 
extracts from another set of books, containing the 
accounts of the overseers of the poor, as they illustrate 
the mode in which that portion of the parish business 
was conducted in the seventeenth century, and give 
us some insight into the nature and price of food, 
clothing, and other necessaries of life at that period. 

In the first place, it appears that before the erection 
of the workhouse, one mode of dispensing out- door 
relief was to make agreements with certain parish- 
ioners to lodge and board, and sometimes to clothe, 
the pauper for a stipulated yearly or half-yearly 



168 A CORNEE OF KENT. 

payment. One of the earliest entries in the first 
book, and the first year of the operation of the Act 
of Parliament 34th Queen Elizabeth before men- 
tioned, is as follows : '* Item, to Widdow Paramore 
for keeping of a poor maid child till she could be 
placed." We add two examples of agreements under 
the date of May 11th, 1676 :-- 

" John Petley has agreed with the parishioners to 
keep ISTeave's girl this year for one pound and ten 
shillings, and he is to find her in all manner of 
clothing whatsoever." 

" Prances Barrow has agreed with the parishioners 
to keep Susanna Dunkin for meat and drink, washing 
and lodging, this year, and the parish is to find her 
in all manner of clothing whatsoever." 

Of miscellaneous items we have selected the follow- 
ing :— 

1668. 

Paid Mr. Harflete for 18 sacks of coals for 

the poor , £1 13 

Paid for a pair of bodyes and a pair of hose 

(and) to Aprons for Manly 's girle 5 9 

Paid for a new hat and gloves 1 

Paid Mrs. Licod for 16| yards of Kersie to 

cloath the poore 2 8 11 

Paid her more for 36 yards of red cotton for 

the poore 3 2 4 

Clothes for 20 poor persons, and such other 
necessary things as bee used to make 
them up 116 

Paid for a pair of shoes for Pearmans boy.. 2 



PERAMBULATION OF THE PARISH. 169 

1672. 

Paid to Adam Jull for things the Widow 
Brown had in her sickness, and for letting 
Elizabeth Poat blood £0 6 3 

Paid to Adam Jull for making a coat and 
hose and waiscoat for John Pairman, 
and for making Widdow White's suit ... 7 6 
It would therefore appear that Dr. Jull, as he is in 

other entries described, paid attention in a double 

sense to the habits of body of the parishioners. 

1677. 

Amongst the accounts of this year some " mute 
inglorious Milton" has scrawled a few couplets, the 
most ingenious of which must surely Iiave been in- 
spired by the '^Paradise Lost" and ^'Paradise Pc- 
gained " of his great contemporary : — 

" Christ in a garden was apprehended 
Because in a garden Adam first ofiended." 

To which is appended the following moral reflec- 
tion : — 

"I made a covenant with mine eyes, 
Whyfore should I think upon a maid." 

1678. 

A hat for Gainsfords girle £0 3 

Paid for canvas for a pair of britches for 

Gainsfords boy 1 

A pair of shoes for Ilobacks boy 2 4 



170 A CORNEE. OE KENT. 

Shoes vary from 9d. to 3s. per pair, of course accord- 
ing to size and description. 

1683. 

A pair of pattens for Moynes girl £0 1 4 

1685. 
Por a pair of gloves for Rows boy £0 6 

In this year the burial of a pauper cost thirteen 
shillings and threepence, as under : — 

April 10th, for the laying forth of John 

Carter £0 2 

Eor his coffin, knell, and grave 9 

Por wool to bury him in 9 

Eor his affidavit and register 16 

£0 13 3 

This affidavit was the certifying that he was 
" buried in woollen." 

1710. 

On April 27th in this year, at a vestry held at the 
Lion, it was magnanimously '' Ordered that every one 
who comes to a parish meeting shall spend his own 
money." 

1712. 

Paid Mr. Solly for cloathes as follows : 
21 yards of cattaloon (challoon?), at 5^d. 
3 yards of blue cotton, at 16d. 
3 ells and J of TicMens (? Bed ticking), at lOd. 



PEUAMBTJLATION OP THE PAHISH. 171 

1^ yard of cattaloon and cadis (a sort of wool), 9d. 
3 ells of ossins (?), 2s. 6d. 

5 ells of locker (in other accounts lockeram), at lOd. 
A pair of leather bodies, 2s. 8d. 

A bushel of wheat in this year cost 4s. 6d. 

1714. 

In this year coals cost 2s. 4d. per sack, '* 28s. a 
chalder," and " 3 one-and-twenties of coals," £5. 5s. 

1725. 

In this year, under the date of March 30th, '' It 
was agreed that Thomas Minter, Charles Horn, 
churchwardens, and David Denne, overseer, do 
build or hire, at y" charge of y^ parish, a house for 
the use of the poor." And in 

1730. 

'* It was agreed between the parishioners and Doctor 
Hogben, that y^ s"^ Doctor shall look after all the 
poor in y' workhouse, and all that receive w^eekly 
collection, for y^ sum of ten pounds per yeare, except 
broken bones, & what y' overseers shall think fit to 
send him to which have not weekly collection, and 
for them he is to be paid as y"" overseers and he shall 
agree for ; & in case y^ small-pox should be breef, for 
the s'^ Doc'' to be allowed, & reasonable allowance." 

A memorandum, dated June 25th of that year, 
informs us that Henry Eastman and his wife were 
" appointed for 7 years, at £10 per annum, and also 
meat, drink, and lodging, for looking after the poor 



172 A CORNEll OF KENT. 

of the parish of Ash ; and to have the lower room and 
chamber next the street, and to leave at a quarter's 
warning," which was apparently given them at 
Christmas, for in March, 1731, Leonard Bedo and 
his wife were appointed to replace the Eastmans. 

Another entry of that year records — " Spent when 
Leonard Bedo was chosen master of the workhouse." 

A fevi later entries, referring to the church, will be 
noticed in the section appropriated to its description ; 
but the above extracts are sufiBcient to show the 
nature of the information to be derived from the 
parish records, and contain all we considered likely to 
amuse or enlighten our readers. Pages are occupied 
in entries of payments for all sorts of*birds' heads by 
the dozen, and the only item during the rest of the 
century we thought worthy of transcription occurs in 
the accounts for the year 1765, viz. : — 

" Paid Henry Poster for saving James Johncocke 
a wig, Is." 

The registers of baptisms, marriages, and burials 
commence as early as the month of November in the 
first year of the reign of Queen Elizabeth, A.D. 
1558 ; but the upper part of a leaf has been cut out 
of the oldest book, making a blank from July, 1561, 
to January, 156^, and from October 3, 1562, to 
April, 1563. There are also twelve years wanting 
of all the registers from 164^ to 1653. Omitting 
the names common to all the parishes of England — 
the inevitable Smiths, the celebrated firm of '* Brown, 
Jones, and Ptobinson," the Whites, the Greens, and 



PEilAMBULATION OV THE PARISH. 173 

tlie Blacks, and the equally popular appellations of 
Adams, Jackson, Johnson, Wilson, and other sons — 
the following are some of the most remarkable, and 
those of the principal families to be found in these 
valuable records : — Affeld, Alason, Allen, Ames, 
Androe, Anley, Ansell, Anselm, Arbeston, Aymis ; 
Bax, Backett, Beake, Beere, Benskin, Bing, Bishop, 
Blaxland, Bonner, Boughton, Boykin, Bourne, 
Brompton, Burthen, Bushell ; Camden, Carloil, Oatt, 
Chandler, Chapman, Claringbold, Cleveland, Cock, 
Collins, Coleman, Coltson, Combe, Constant,* Cooke, 
Copp, Corke, Craythorne, Curling, Cutburne; Dane, 
Danton, Davy, Delmar, Dilnot, Dive, Dunkin ; Elgar, 
Elvery, Elyot, Emptidge, Esdee ; Pennell, Eidge, 
Eoate, Eoote, Eorstall, Eriend ; Gammon, Gardner, 
Gibbs, Gifford, Godden, Godfrey, Gold, Goldstone, 
Goldup, Griggs; Harfleet, Harness, Hogben, Hougham, 
Howbancke, Huckstep; Innocent, Inkpet; Jethery, 
Johncock, Juddrey, Jull ; Keeble, Kelsey, Kennett ; 
Lacy, Lad, Landy, Laslett, Lass, Legnail, Legrand, 
Lettice, Lilly; Macket, Masters, Matson, Meriam, 
Mezday, Minter, Musred ; Natau, Nott, JSTunham ; 
Omer, Onyon, Organ, Osborne ; Paramour, Pay, 
Plosse, Peke, Ponte, Pordage, Prestly, Priggenden, 
Proude ; Quested, Quillock ; Ealph, Eatcliffe, Beist, 
Bigden, Bowe, Bye ; Sacket, Saffery, St. Nicholas, 
Saltenstone, Seed, Sevenaker, Sherry, Sladden, 



* A James Co/isiantinople msLYvied Mai-y Simmonp, Nov. 19, 1617. 
There is no repetition of the name. 



174 A CORNER OF KENT. 

Solly, Spaine, Storke, Stumble, Stupple, SwaflFord; 
Tappenden, Thrumb, Tilley, Tomlin ; Umfield, 
Under do wne ; Waaker, ¥/hale, Wigg, Wild, Winalls. 

William Lord Latimer, in the thirty-eighth year 
of the reign of Edward III., obtained license for a 
market to be held at Ash every Thursday, and an 
annual fair on Ladyday. The market has expired ; 
but a few gingerbread-stalls and '^ knock'em downs" 
continue to do duty for " the fair " upon Old Lady- 
day and Old Michaelmas-day yearly, to the delight of 
small children, the amusement of waggoners' mates, 
and the advantage of the beer-shops. 

Amongst other ancient customs, the curfew still 

" Tolls the knell of parting day," 

and the "five o'clock bell," rung every morning, 
though it now only summons man '' to go forth to 
his work and to his labour," formerly at the same 
hour cailed priest and people to " matins." 

The number of communicants in 1588 was 500 ; in 
1640 they had increased to 850 ; and from the registers 
it appears that from 1620 to 1820 the births had nearly 
doubled. The population in 1801 was 1,575 ; in 1821, 
2,020 ; in 1831, 2,140. In 1841 there were 420 houses 
and 2,077 inhabitants ; in 1851, 2,095 inhabitants ; 
and at the last census, in 1861, the inhabited houses 
were found to be 438, uninhabited 11, and building 5 ; 
the males in number, 1,008 ; females, 1,031 : total 
population, 2,039 — a slight decrease during the last 
ten years. 



-r^ 



uJ 

^— 



,-.a 




175 




Fiece of carved oaJc dug zip in 1861. 



CHAPTER IV, 



THE OHTJECH AND ITS MONUMENTS. 



THE Parish Church of Ash stands nearly in the 
middle of the village, on the south side of the 
high-road running through it, crowning the hrow of 
the hill which overlooks the valley of Staple. Erom 
its elevated position, its spire forms a conspicuous 
feature in the landscape for miles around. On the 
site it now occupies stood, according to tradition, a 
Druidical temple or altar. This tradition, purely 
local, is not supported by any testimony that we 
have been enabled to discover. No exhumation has 
brought to light, as at Guilton Town, relics which, if 
not corroborating the statement, might yet account 
for its origin. At the same time the circumstance is 
exceedingly probable: so exactly, indeed, what we 
should look for on such a spot, that, while we by no 



176 A CORNEH OF KENT. 

means insist on tlie truth of the story, we are unable 
to discard it as altogether unworthy of credence. No 
allusion has been made to it by Kilburne, Lambarde, 
Philipot, Harris, or Hasted ; but we do not, on that 
accoimt, hesitate to record the existence of such a 
tradition, leaving our readers to place their own value 
upon it. That an earlier Christian church, of Saxon or 
Norman erection, stood on this spot there can belittle 
doubt, as a considerable portion of the foundation- 
walls was found on the north of the Molland chancel. 
The most ancient portions of the present edifice are 
of quite the close of the 12th and commencement of 
the 13th century, and no discovery has yet been made 
of any fragment of sculpture of an earlier date. 
During the recent thorough repair of the high chancel, 
a small piece of carved oak, apparently part of some 
stall,^ was dug up, perfectly corresponding with the 
oldest portions of the architecture. 

The general form of the church is that of a 
cross,! with a tower at the intersection, and 

* Vide woodcut at tlie head of lliis chapter. That there were 
stalls in the choir here as late as the reign of Henry YIII. is clear 
from the will of Sir John Saunders, vicar of Ash in 1509, already 
quoted, as he bequeaths £4: for " the buying of a book called the 
Antiphonar for Holydays and Sundays, for (the) quire on the vicar's 
side in Ashe Church." 

t For the architectural details and professional description of this 
interesting building we are indebted to the kindness of Mr. Edward 
Roberts, of Parliament-street, AVestminster, F.S.A., one of the 
Honorary Secretaries of the British Archaeological Association, the 
publications of which society contain abundant evidence of his industry 
and intelligence in the study of mediaeval architecture. 



Platl b 



yl 



m 

m 







THE CHURCH AND ITS MONUMENTS. 177 

having the cathedral-like feature of a departure 
from a strictly rectangular plan, so as to give a 
leaning of the chancel towards the south, supposed 
to be indicative of the bent position of the body 
of our Saviour on the cross. This peculiarity of 
arrangement is too often repeated to be accidental ; 
and we are too familiar with the exactitude of 
mediseval builders to believe that it was the result of 
error. In this particular case, the divergence from 
the straight line is so great as to become almost pain- 
fully visible, and is the more remarkable, not only 
from its extent, but from its being unusual in mere 
parish churches. 

Its arrangement differs, apparently, from that of 
the earlier edifice in some respects, for the former 
had a tower, the remains of which are clearly to be 
seen at the north-west angle, now part of the north 
aisle, and this would seem to be the most ancient 
existing portion of the building, and of the time of 
the transition from Norman to Early English (circa 
1190), the outer walls here having an appearance of 
greater age than in any other part, though, being all 
composed of flints and boulders, it is not so easy to 
distinguish earlier from later work, as where different 
and more perishable materials have been used. It 
may be doubtful if there was at the same time a 
central tower also — most likely not ; although it 
rarely if ever happened that a cruciform church was 
altogether without one, or some arrangement which 
took the place of one, so as to avoid the very common 



173 A COKNEU OE KENT. 

system of the present day of crossing the timbers of 
the roof at the intersection, and enabling them to abut 
the roofs against masonry. The present tower, how- 
ever, has been stuck in bodily from the foundation. 
This will be referred to presently. The sub-arrange- 
ment of the church is into a nave, with a north aisle 
and north porch, a tower and transepts, the north 
transept being larger than the south by reason of the 
aisle beyond which it extends, a chancel of great 
length, with a north chancel beside it. There has 
been, also, a south aisle or chapel, with two bays, the 
piers and arches of the arcade remaining in the pre- 
sent walls, which have been filled in ; the shafts and 
capitals, as far as they are visible, appearing to be of 
the same date as those on the opposite side of the 
nave; viz., from 1200 to 1220. 

Let us now apply ourselves to the details, taking 
first those of the nave or body of the church. 
Looking from west to east, we have behind us 
the large modern western window and restored 
door, both, however, in the position of their prede- 
cessors. On the left we have, first, the base of 
the old tower, then three equilateral arches of the 
same size and shape (date from 1200 to 1220), with 
hood mouldings on both faces, and with responds 
or abutments at each end of the arcade. The first 
respond has a corbel in lieu of a shaft. The two shafts 
beyond are (beneath the cap mouldings, which are 
alike) dissimilar in all other respects, save that of 
material, both being built of Kentish rag ; the smaller 



THE CHURCH AND ITS MONUMENTS. 179 

one, however, has certainly been inserted, probably 
at the time the central tower was built, as there are 
no appearances of large rag-stones in other parts than 
where alterations are evident. 

The nearer and larger shaft is in eleven unequal 
courses of small stones, 5 feet 4f inches high in all, 
and 23 inches diameter. This is certainly in substi- 
tution of something which preceded it ; the other may 
be original, — i.e,, coincident with the first alteration 
or rebuilding, when only the west tower was left 
standing. The shaft in the respond is similar to the 
last described, and was most likely built at the same 
time as the tower. This seems to confirm the view 
already taken, that the one shaft is original and the 
other two are later, although in imitation ; and it is 
further strengthened by a red colour, of which there 
are evident traces on the entire shaft and base. 

At each pier is a corbel projecting into the nave; 
there has been a depression in their upper surface, 
showing that something was to have lain in them. 

On our right hand, or south side, we have firstly 
an inserted window, of about the date 1400, and two 
quite recent windows beyond in the filling in of the 
spaces of the old arcade, which led into the demo- 
lished aisle or chapel before mentioned. The buttress 
outside has been added, and in other respects there 
appear to have been great alterations, the use of 
similar materials tending, as we have before observed, 
to defeat the judgment as to age. Inside, however, 
Caen stone has been used — always a sign of early 

N 2 



180 A CORNER OF KENT. 

work. The shafts of this arcade cannot be seen at 
all fx'om the interior : could they be perfectly ex- 
amined, they would most probably be found to corre- 
spond in material and workmanship with the large 
one opposite to them. 

Th€ north aisle is, including the old tower, of the 
same length as the nave. Three sides of the tower 
remain, about fifteen feet high. The north porch 
and priest's chamber, or vestry, above it, are new, but 
occupy the same position as those Avliich preceded 
them. They were rebuilt in 1848, chiefly at the 
expense of the E;ev. Edward Penny, then the incum- 
bent here, and now rector of Great Mongeham, Deal. 
On each side of the old porch were compartments of 
stonework, once ornamented with brasses, *' most 
probably,'' says Hasted, '' in remembrance of some 
of the family of Harflete, several of whom lie buried 
on the north side of the churchyard;" but the 
brasses, as well as the tombs, were all gone in his 
time.* In 1663-4, the sum of £3. 15s. was paid to 

^ Mr. Bryan Faussett, iu his Charcli Notes, taken in 1760, says, 
" On each side of the entrance to the porch is an ancient monument. 
They both Imve been adorned with brasses, which, together with 
their inscriptions, are now lost." Hasted alludes to the tombs of 
Thomas Atcheker, otherwise Harfleet, and his father, Kaymond 
Harfleet, as the former in his wil], proved 29th January, 15||^, 
desires to be buried in the churchyard of Ash, on the north side, 
where his father lieth, and that a tombstone be laid over his father, 
with sculpture of his name, mentioning the day of his death, and 
without picture ; and another tombstone to be laid over himself, with 
sculpture mentioning his name and day of his death, and vnthout 
picture. As the tombs Mr. Faussett describes had been adorned with 



THE CHURCH AND ITS MONUMENTS. 181 

the painter " for painting the church porch, and 
writing the sentences there, for shadowing the outside 
of the great doors, and for painting the screenes,^^ &c. 
The window beyond the porch is modern. At the 
east end of the aisle is an early arch, one pier of 
which was rebuilt when the central tower was inserted, 
and shows a different impost from that on the opposite 
side. This arch is perhaps thirty years later than 
the nave, and would induce us to think the transept 
an addition to it, and we find that it was formerly 
called the Chapel of St. Thomas the Martyr. The 
tower, when built, converted it into a transept proper. 
In this transept recently stood the organ, and a 
gallery of modern erection, both of which have 
been judiciously removed.'* At the east end is an 

brasses, they could not liave been those of Thomas and Raymond 
Harfleet, which appear to have been flat gravestones, with name and 
date of death cut upon them, and without pictures — i. e., brasses. 
John Harfleet, of Ash, son of Thomas above mentioned, also desires 
to be buried " in the churchyard of Ashe, on the north side, where 
my father lieth." Will proved September 19, 1581. But "the 
compartments of stonework " described by Hasted were evidently in 
the sides of the porch itself, and the disappearance of the brasses, 
which must have been before 1613, is much to be lamented. 

* On taking down the organ (December, 1863) the remains of 
fresco paintings, borders, and inscriptions were found on the walls, 
but unfortunately too dilapidated to trace or decipher. On the east 
wall, the naked feet and lower portion of the red robe of a figure 
were discernible. The borders seem to have been black bands with 
rows of white or yellow roundels on them. Of the inscriptions 
(probably texts) not one word was perfect enough to render it legible. 
While superintending the works in progress for the restoration of this 
transept, the Rev. H. S. Mackarness (the present incumbent) dis- 



182 A CORNER OP KENT. 

archway of the fourteenth century, leading out of 
the transept into the north or Molland chancel. 
There are here two corbels, carved in the shape of 
human heads, with the hair arranged in the pecu- 
liar curl which distinguishes the figures of the 
time of Edward I. and II. ; but they have been 
sadly mutilated, indeed all but destroyed, in the 
erection some years ago of a wooden partition, now 
happily removed, converting the chancel into a 
school-room for the girls of the Cartwright Charity, 
the boys occupying the vestry above the porch 
previous to its reconstruction in 1840. 

There is an oaken screen here of the sixteenth 
century. We have seen the painter was paid for 
painting the screenes in the church in 1663-4. 

This chancel was anciently called St. Nicholas' 
chancel, and the remains of string-courses of early 
thirteenth-century work show that up to a certain 
point there are portions of the old walls standing. 
This is visible at the east end, where the string is 

covered a stone coffin of the thirteenth century, on the lid of which 
was sculptured a cross, planted on three steps (called, heraldically, " a 
cross degreed or degraded "), the form of which is rather uncommon, 
the transverse limb of the cross curving like the guard of an ancient 
sword. The coffin had evidently been opened, and the contents 
disturbed, the skull and other portions of the skeleton of an adult 
person being mixed up with large flint boulders and rubbish of every 
description. The lid, of great weight, considerably overlapped the 
coffin. The upper half of another lid, quite plain, was dug up near it. 
A small fragment of painted glass out of the old window was found 
at the same time, with a pattern upon it, from which the borders 
above mentioned seem to have been imitated. 



THE CHURCH AND ITS MONUMENTS. 183 

surmounted by a modern window. On the north 
side are two recently inserted windows, carefully 
copied from those they have replaced ; and an altar 
tomb of the fifteenth century, under a canopy slightly 
earlier. The tomb itself is of Purbeck marble, and 
is supposed to have been removed from some other 
part of the church, and put into a recess with which 
it does not in any way correspond, being too long 
and too dwarfed. Upon it have been placed the 
alabaster effigies of John Septvans, Esquire of the 
Body to King Henry YI., who founded a chantry here, 
called the chantry of the Upper Hall, as appears by 
the will of his widow Katharine, dated April 14? 
1495. We have much to say on this subject when 
we come to describe the monuments, but necessarily 
mention this particular fact here as it is probable 
that the alterations made in the fifteenth century in 
this chancel took place at the time of the foundation 
of the chantry aforesaid. In 1540 we find payment 
'' to Sir Thomas Bruer, chauntry priest of the 
chauntry of John Stevyn^ in the church of Ashe, 
for land, and tenements by the yeare, £vij, £vi, £viii : 
thereof to be deducted for one obyte, to be yearly 
kept in the said church of Ashe, v'"* John Stevyn 
has been ludicrously perverted into Saint Stephen by 
Hasted or his informant, the name of the founder 
being mistaken for that of the Christian proto- 
martyr. It is just possible that Stevyn may be itself 

'"" Yalor Ecclesiasticus, temp. Henry YIII. 



18 i A CORNER OF KENT. 

one of the many corruptions of the name of Sept vans, 
which has undergone, as we shall hereafter show, the 
most extraordinary transformations. In that case 
the chantry so dedicated would be the same as that 
of the Upper Hall which we have just mentioned ; but 
we must not omit to state that there was an ancient 
family here of Stiven (Stephyn, Stephen), one of 
whom married Alice, daughter of John Solly, of 
Pedding and Woodnesborough, ante 1624, and that 
there may have been a separate chantry founded 
by an ancestor of that family.* There was another 
in this church named '' the chantry of Our Blessed 
Lady," suppressed with the rest in first year of 
the reign of Edward VI. , when that of Our 
Lady was returned to be of the clear value of 
£15. lis. l^d., the lands with which it was endowed 
consisting, amongst other premises, of a house and 
fourteen acres of land in Ash, which were granted 
to Hichard Monins and Thomas "Wotton, Esqs., 
and they sold them again to Thomas Atchecquer, 
alias Harfleet.t Those belonging to John Stevyn's 
chantry consisted of a messuage, barn, &c., in Ash, 

*' Sampson Stevyn is named in the will of Sampson Style, of 
Middleton, dated 12tli August, 1464; and tbe will of Christiana 
Stephyn was proved 16th ISTovember, 1498. 

t By his will, proved 29th January, 1-559-60, he bequeaths to his 
son Cliristopher Harfleet, with other property, his principal messuage, 
and nine pieces of land, containing fourteen acres, in Ash, late belong- 
ing to the late chantry of Our Lady in Ash aforesaid, which he bought 
of Richard Monnyngs (Monins) and Thomas Wotton, Esqs. — (Prerog. 
Off. Canterbury.) 



Plate 6 




'''X 



AlMJ i''/^^/^ 



/ ; /A^'M /^: ^'///'' 






4:' 



' A^^ 




t/M 












I 

I 

E.lWalLer.LitnLiaEatton&aiden. i "L 

Viewfeomtlie SoutK Transept looking tkrougin ttie 
liLgK CiiarLcel irLto the Holland CliaTLC el . 

Tro-m^cLTlxotoyTccpl-L l^J M^ l\r. Dixon 



\ I. Smith.. LI tti. 



THE CHURCH AND ITS MONUMENTS. 185 

and 220 acres of arable, 30 acres of pasture, and 
8 acres of marsh land, in the parishes of St. Nicholas 
and Monkton, Thanet, granted to Cheney, and held 
in capite. The land charged with the annual pay- 
ment of twenty shillings to the chantry of the Upper 
Hall is simj)ly stated in the will of Septvans's widow^ 
to be "that which lyeth or beith next to the said 
chantry," which must therefore have been in the 
village of Ash. 

The piscina in this chancel is of the fifteenth 
century. A priest's door (restored) communicates 
with the high chancel, called also the south chancel 
and the Guilton chancel, and in the fourteenth 
century designated, as already stated, the chancel of 
Our Lady. The wall on each side the door is pierced 
with arches appropriated to monuments of the families 
of Goshall and Leverick. The most important and 
peculiar is the one towards the west. The arch and 
jambs are in rag-stone, with imposts of the same ; 
the former are chamfered, and the imposts with a 
slightly hollowed moulding. The sill of the opening 
is sunk out for the reception of a recumbent figure, 
and has a sculptured trefoil border, so arranged as 
to be perfectly finished at the ends, or, technically, 
mitred, and returning through the opening. The work 
is well executed, very elegant, and with all the cha- 
racter and spirit of the sculpture of the early part of 
the fourteenth century. On the east side the door is a 
beautifully-canopied tomb, of the latter half of the 
fourteenth century, with three traceried and crocketed 



186 A CORNER or KENT. 

gablets, with curved outline. The portions of those 
which remain are very judiciously left untampered 
with. The recess is groined in three bays, and the 
back is pierced with an opening into the north 
chancel, as already stated. Of the effigies on these 
two tombs we shall speak anon. 

In the south wall of this chancel is a trefoil-headed 
piscina, with round corbels (date about 1200), above 
it a lancet-headed window of the same period, beside 
it an aumbry, and two other windows of later dates, 
one on each side of the priest's door, which is 
modern. 

Mr. Hasted simply informs us that '' in the win- 
dows formerly were to be seen the armorial bearings 
of Septvans, alias Harflete, Notbeame, Brook, Ellis, 
Clitherow, Oldcastle, Keriell, and Hougham, and 
the figures of a St. Nicholas, a Keriell, and a 
Hougham, kneeling in armour, with their surcoats 
of arms; but all these were long ago demolished." 

Amongst the Additional MSS. in the British 
Museum,* however, are Mr. Hasted's own copies 
of a collection of drawings and notes taken in Ash 
Church on the 20th of November, 1613 ; and from 
these valuable memorials we are enabled to supply 
some most interesting details, not only of these 
windows, but of several of the monuments which 
were then in existence. We have also had the good 

'^ " Peter le Neve's Church Notes," (Add. MSS. No. 5479). The 
originals appear, by Mr. Hasted's account, to have been lent to him 
by Joseph Edmonson. 



THE CHURCH A:ND ITS MONUMENTS. 187 

fortune to be permitted to examine the MS. Church 
Notes of that indefatigable and learned antiquary the 
E;eY. Bryan Eaussett, taken in 1760, and now in the 
possession of his great-grandson, Mr. T. Godfrey 
Paussett, from which we have obtained corrobo- 
rative and conclusive evidence on some highly im- 
portant genealogical points, as will appear in the 
progress of this and the following chapter. 

Prom these combined sources of authentic infor- 
mation, we have formed the following list of shields 
of arms that adorned the "storied panes" of St. 
Nicholas, Ash, in the seventeenth century : — 

1. Gules, a lion rampant argent. 

2. Argent, a plain cross gules. 

These two were existing as late as 1760, and are 
stated by Mr. Bryan Eaussett to have been in the 
" westmost window ;" by which we presume he meant 
the original window over the west door. 

3. Azure, three winnowing fans or : Septvans, 
alias Harfleet. 

4. Gules, a fess nebulee ermine : Notbeame. 

5. Or, on a chevron azure three leopards' heads of 
the first : Leverick. 

6. Argent, on a fess between six cross-crosslets 
azure three plates : Ellis of Sandwich. 

7. Or, a cross sable (Brockhull ?) 

8. Ermine, on a chief, three lions rampant : 
Aucher. 

9. Septvans quartering Twitham, Sandwich, Ellis, 
Brooke of , Wolfe, and Wyborne, as in the win- 



188 A CORNER OF KENT. 

dows at Molland, and on the brass of Christopher 
Harfleet in the north chancel. 

10. Party per bend ; two eagles displayed counter- 
changed : Brooke of Brooke Street. 

11. Party per chevron, embattled argent and sable, 
three mullets counterchanged, within a bordure 
engrailed ermine : Stoddard of Mottingham. 

12. Argent, three cups sable : Clitherow, impaling 
argent, a castle tripled towered sable : Oldcastle. 

13. Clitherow, as above, impaling argent, three 
bugle horns in pale sable. 

It is not stated in what particular window or 
windows the last eleven were situated ; but it is 
probable that they were, for the most part, in the 
north chancel. 

The following fourteen, and the four kneeling 
figures, we are strongly inclined to believe, from the 
particular order in which they are drawn on one page 
of the MS., adorned the great window at the east end 
of the high chancel. At top, ranged four and three, 
are : — 

1. Or, two chevrons and a canton gules : Keriel, 
impaling Clitherow, as above. 

2 a chevron between three wolves' heads : 

Wolfe, impaling Clitherow, as before. 

3. Clitherow impaling three bugle horns, 

two and one. 

4 a chevron inter ten cross-crosslets 

impaling ..... on a chevron three lions ram- 
pant : (Cobham ?) 



THE CHURCH AND ITS MONUMENTS. 189 

5. Argent, three bars sable, impaling (Cobham ?), 
as above. 

6. Clitherow impaling Oldcastle, as before. 

7. Oldcastle quartering party per pale ..'... a 
double-headed eagle displayed 

Beneath these seven shields are ranged in a line 
the four figures, three male and one female, all in 
the costume of the fifteenth century, kneeling on 
cushions. 

1. Male figure in armour, temp. Henry VI. or 
Edward lY., with tabard of arms. Ermine, a chief 
quarterly or and gules, an annulet for difference in 
first quarter : St. Nicholas of Thanet. This figure 
most probably represented John St. Mcholas, who 
died in 1462. 

2. Male figure in armour, with tabard of arms. 
Or, two chevrons and a canton sable. If not a mis- 
take, a variation of the coat of Criol or Keriel. If 
intended to represent John Keriel, the husband of 
Joan Clitherow, the canton should have been differ- 
enced by a crescent. Notwithstanding these discre- 
pancies, the result perhaps of error, we are inclined 
to assign it to the aforesaid John, of whom more 
hereafter. 

3. Male figure in armour with tabard, on which 
are drawn : Argent, on a chevron between three 
elephant's heads erased sable, as many mullets or. 
This coat, with different colours, is found quartered 
with that of Brooke, in the "Visitation of Kent," 
A.D. 1619, and this figure is underwritten " Solomon 



190 A COHNER OF KENT. 

Hougham." "We shall have occasion to return to 
this subject in our fifth chapter. 

4. A lady in the costume of the fifteenth century, 
wearing a mantle on which are the arms of Wolfe, 
as quartered with Clitherow in the shield above men- 
tioned. This figure is underwritten "The Wife of 
Keriell ; " but this must be simply the note of the 
writer. This is also an interesting point for discus- 
sion hereafter. There are no arms of Keriel on any 
part of her dress. 

Beneath these four figures are ranged seven more 
shields of arms, in two lines, four and three, as the 
seven above. 

1. Septvans, with a crescent for difference. 

2. Earry of six pieces nebulee argent and gules : 
De Campania, or Champion, of Champions Court, co. 
Kent, impaling St. Nicholas.* 

3. St. Nicholas, with annulet for difference, as on 
armed figure just described. 

4. De Campania impaling argent three bh^ds 
marked ''proper." (Query, Crows for Corbet ?)t 

5. De Campania, impaling chevron between ele- 



* This is curious. John St. Nicholas married Margaret, daughter 
and heir of Simon de Campania (vide Chapter Y.) : but' here we 
have the indication of one of the Campania family having taken to 
wife a St. Nicholas. 

t This again is noteworthy. Catharine, daughter of Jolin de 
Campania and Margery his wife, married a Corbet : but this sbield, 
like the former (note, ante), would indicate exactly the reverse ; the 
arms of Campania being on the baron or dexter side. 



TUE CHURCH AND ITS MONUMENTS. 191 

pliants' heads, as on the tabard of Solomon Hougham 
above mentioned.* 

6. De Campania impaling De Campania, t 

7. Keriel impaling Wolfe, corroborating the state- 
ment, '' The Wife of Keriell," under the female figure 
above described. 

The herald and genealogist will at once perceive 
the valuable information that may be drawn from 
these records, in illustration of the very imperfect 
and inaccurate pedigrees at present existing of these 
fine old Kentish families. We shall do our best in 
the next chapter to elucidate some of the vexed 
questions ; but there will be still much to do for our 
successors in these researches. The grand east win- 
dow, which we have here most probably recalled to 
us, had been demolished before 1760, when Mr. 
Bryan Paussett took his notes, and was most pro- 
bably then succeeded by the plain one which was in 
existence till 1855, when an exceedingly handsome 
memorial window, designed and executed by Mr. 
Williment, . E.S.A., was put up by the late Miss 
Eriend, of Ash. { Beneath it is the following inscrip- 



* Indicating a match with either Sanders or Houghana. 

+ We have here evidence of the intermarriage of two of the same 
family ; but as yet have found no such match in the scattered notices 
of the Campanias. 

i We lament to add that this estimable lady was burned to death 
at the residence of her sister, at Felderland, near Sandwich, April 
15th, 1862, in the 75th year of her age ; having fallen into the fire, 
it is presumed in a fit, while sitting alone in her apartment. 



192 A CORNER OP KENT. 

tion : — " Dedicated to the memory of "William and 
Sarah Priend, by their affectionate daughter, Ann 
Eriend, December 25th5 A.D. 1855. 

Prom the will of William Norrys, of Ash, it 
appears that in I486 there was an ''image of St. 
Mary Magdalene " in the chancel, either in statuary 
or painting. That there were stalls in it at a very 
early period, and as late as the beginning of the 
sixteenth century, we have already stated ; and 
pews as early as 1573-4, in which year Edward 
Stoughton, by will proved Pebruary 16th, desires to 
be buried in Our Lady's chancel of Ash, against his 
pew there. Of the rood-screen the only remains are 
the lower portions of panelled oak. 

The heavy altar-piece and massive rails with which 
the chancel was '' beautified," according to the taste 
of the eighteenth century, and out of the £100 
bequeathed by Eleanor and Ann Cartwright in 1721 
(see page 114 and list of benefactions), were replaced 
by the present, and a new pulpit and reading-desk 
also erected from a fund provided by Bishop Nixon, 
while incumbent of Ash, 1838-42, from the sale of 
the later editions of his excellent work, '' Lectures 
on the Church Catechism;" and in 1861 the chancel 
was thoroughly repaired and newly roofed and paved, 
at the expense of the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, 
and under the direction of Mr. Ewan Christian, 
their architect. 

The south transept appears to have undergone 



i^HH^ttflH 



THE CHURCH AND ITS MONUMENTS. 193 

considerable repairs in the year 1675, as in almost 
every portion of the outer wall stones are to be 
seen inscribed with the names of various officers 
and inhabitants of the parish, all bearing the same 
date. Amongst the most legible are the follow- 
ing : — '' John Saffery, of Checquer, Churchwarden, 
1675." "Geoarge Jay, 1675." " Henry Proud, 1675." 
"John Pidge, 1675." '' Martha... ampson, 1675." 
"John Brice, 1675." "James Kingsland's stone, 
1675." "Thomas Sayer, ...75." 

We now come to the tower, the style of which 
is almost of debased Perpendicular, or beginning of 
sixteenth century. It may have been built at three 
different periods ; one stage at a time. The large 
piers inside the church are almost, if not quite, 
unique for the size of the stones, which are about 
6 feet long, 4 feet wide, and 2 feet thick, and, for 
ragstone, very unusual. The south aisle, or chapel, 
had evidently been destroyed before the building of 
the tower. Over the arch, at the entrance to the 
high chancel, is a board, with the following in- 
scription :-— " This belfry was raised and rebuilt by 
Thomas Beake and Richard Laslett, churchwardens, 
1750." 

This was in consequence of the fall of the great 
clock-weight, which broke through the flooring of the 
belfry and ceiling of the tower — providentially when 
the church was empty, as it crushed everything it 
came in contact with. 

o 



19 i A CORNER OF KENT. 

In 1760, Mr. Bryan Paussett found five bells in the 
belfry, on whicb were the following inscriptions : — 

1. (Only the date remains) ... 1581. 

2. Joseph Hatch made me ... 1615. 

3. Joseph Hatch made me ... 1620. 

4. Joseph Hatch made me ... 1620. 

5. Henry Wilner made me ... 1661. 

The present white marble font appears to have 
been given to the church by E^obert Minchard* and 
Abraham Pennell, churchwardens, in 1726, which 
date, with their initials, is also on the poor-box. 
Their names in full are engraved on the font, toge- 
ther with the arms of the Minchard family, a mullet 
within the horns of a crescent ; but in 1664 there is 
in the churchwardens' accounts the following entry : 
" Pd. Mr. Thomas St. Nicholas, Usq., for the ffunt, 
£1. Os. Od." And in a payment to a painter imme- 
diately following, one of the items is " for painting 
the ffunt.'' 

We are left to conjecture whether this was a new 
font of common stone purchased of Mr. St. Nicholas, 
or whether these expenses were incurred for the repair 
of an ancient one. 

Beside the items we have already extracted 
from the accounts for 1634 {vide page 153), the 
following, relating to repairs of the church, its 
pews and ornaments, the bells, churchyard-gates, 

* Robert Minchard married Elizabeth, widow of Thomas Peke, of 
Hills Court, Esq., who died in 1701, and in her right held the manors 
of Hills Court and Levericks during his lifetime. 



THE CHTJRCH AND ITS MONUMENTS. 195 

walls, &c., may have some interest for our local 
readers : — 

1635. 

Item, first for timber to repair the steeple, 

with all the carrying and recarrying ... £9 11 

To Justed the plumber for changing old 
lead for new and laying it on the 
steeple 83 2 11 

1641. 

Eor the ringers and the workmen when 
the bells were a hanging, and when the 
bell founders came to see them hanged.. 8 6 

More laid out for changing the communion 

flaggon 4 

Item, paid to Henry Willner of Borden 
for casting the bell and the bell brasses 
for the third bell, and the little beU 6 15 8 

1652. 

Paid to the churchwardens of Littlebourne 

for carrying the bell to the bell-founders 10 

Paid to Simon Brice for his journey to 
bargain with the churchwardens to carry 
thebell 10 

Paid to Thomas Sanders for carrying the 

bell to Littlebourne 3 4 

Paid the glazier for glazing and leading the 

church windows 6 19 S^ 

o 2 



196 A CORNER OP KENT. 

1655. 

Per a frame for the hour-glass* £0 1 

1661. 

Paid Eichard Pidge for himself and 
labourers for work done about the 
church wall, the church gate-house, the 
church and church-house 3 10 1 

Paid for a lock and key for the chancel 

door - 5 

1662. 
To Richard Fidge for whiting and colour- 
ing the church and finding all materials 
for the same 2 10 

1663-4. 

Paid John Harris for 5 days' work about 
the church, and a table for the com- 
mandments 8 4 

Paid to Edwards the painter for writing 
the commandments and for flourishing 
of the hand doors and the great doors 
and the pillars 8 

1665. 
" Por matting of my pew" [Robert Woods 
then churchwarden] 2 

* An hour-glass was an almost uni\^ersal appendage to a pulpit 
during the 16th and 17th centuries. The ironwork of the holders 
was sometimes of the most elaborate and tasteful description. 



THE CHURCH AND ITS MONUMENTS. 197 

In the Register of Baptisms for 1744, p. 88, there 
is the following note by B. Longley, curate : — 

"In the year 1744, Thomas JuU and Henry 
Minter, churchwardens, built the north wall [of the 
churchyard], and coped it with stone, and made a 
new gate at the east end. The gate at the west end, 
with the piers, were put up some years before by the 
father of the said H. Minter and John May, church- 
wardens." 

In 1779 the Molland chancel needed repairs, and 
Mrs. Allen, the owner of the manor of Molland at 
that time, was called upon to repair it. On her 
refusal so to do, proceedings were taken against 
her, and the suit being heard before the Dean 
of Arches in Trinity Term that year, it was decreed 
that she should forthwith repair it, and certify the 
same by the first day of Michaelmas term next 
afterwards, and was condemned to pay the full 
costs of suit. 

In 1791, £161. Is. 9d. was paid '' as per bill" for 
casting a new peal of bells ; and " at the opening of 
the new peal of bells,'' £2. 13s. Od. " To William 
Bushell for carrying the bells, £1. Is. Od. ;" and " to 
Thomas Jull, junior, for ditto, 15s." 

These bells are eight in number, and bear on them 
the names of E-obert Tomlin and Hichard Sutton, 
churchwardens, with those of the founders, ** Thomas 
Mears, late Lester Pack and Chapman, of London," 
with the date 1790. In the belfry is a board with 
the following information in gold letters : — 



198 A CORNER OF KENT. 

QUEX INSTITUTION. 

J. p. POWELL, ESQ., PATRON AND FOUNDER. 

On Saturday, the 18*^ of February, 1826, was rung on these Bells 
Holt's true and complete Peal of grandsire trebels, consisting of 5,040 
changes, with 98 Bobs and 2 Singles, in 3 hours and 4 minutes, by 
the undermentioned persons, members of the above Institution. This 
was the first true peal ever rung in this steeple, though the bells 
have been hung 36 years. 

Will- Darley, Treble Will- Clark, 5*^ 

John Beer, 2'''^ George Francis, 6*^ 

James Carter, 3'*^ Eobert Byall, 7*^ 

John White, 4*^ Nath^ Brewer, Tenor. 



> Churchwardens. 



Conducted by John Beer. 

Thom^ Coleman 
Geo® Quested 

On the nortli wall of the north aisle of the church 
is a board with the following : — 

Lands, 

Tenements, and Benefactions, 

IN Ash. 

Imprimis, one house in the street called y' Church 

house, with 2 garden plotts of 12 perches. 
Item, 4i acres and a ^ of land in Chapman Street, 

now in the occupation of Thomas Horn. 
Item, another piece of land containing 40 perches, 

in y' occupation of William Chapman. As to 

these 3 articles see the terrier.* 

* The terrier is unfortunately no longer to be seen. The third 
article is the donation attributed to Mr. Richard Camden by Hasted. 



THE CHURCH AND ITS MONUMENTS. 199 

Item, 1 pound 5 shillings on account of y^ Toldervey 
Monument, 10 shillings of which is for looking after 
y^ said monument, and 15 shillings every Christm'ss 
for y^ poor. See Thos. St. Nicholas, Esq., his deed. 

Item, in y^ years 1720 and 1721. Gervas Cartwright, 
Esq., and his sisters did for y^ teaching 50 poor 
children to read, write, etc., endow a charity 
school for ever with an estate in land to the 
yearly value of 31 pounds. See y^ deed of gift 
in y^ chest,* and y^ tombstone within the rails 
of the communion table. 

Item, Mrs. Eleanor and Mrs. Ann Cartwright (y*' 
sisters of the above gentleman), besides y^ hand 
they had in y^ said great charity, gave an 100 
pounds for beautifying the chancel and providing 
2 large pieces of plate for the communion service. 

* The chest alluded to is engraved from a drawing by Miss 
Godfrey, of Brooke House, and graces the head of Chapter II. It 
is kept in the vestry over the porch, and presents us with a fine 
specimen of a coffer of the 15th century. It is strongly banded with 
iron, and has three padlocks, one of which secures an iron rod 
passing through staples over the bands connected with the other 
two. Edward Stoughton, of Ashe, by his will, proved February 16, 
1573, bequeaths to Joel his son, amongst other things, " his coffer 
with lock and key and bound with iron, in his counting-house, 
wherein his evidences, deeds, and escripts are." In the marriage 
contract between Sir John Stafford and Anne Bottereaux, March 16, 
1426, the Lord William Bottereaux is required to deliver to the 
Prior of Bath all the charters, evidences, &c., in " a coffer locked 
with three divers locks." . . . . " One of the keys of the said coffer 
to be delivered to the Prior, to remain in the keeping of him and 
his successors ; another key to the said Lord ; and the third to the 
said John and Anne, to remain with them and the heirs of their body." 



200 A CORNER or KENT. 

See the paten and flagon. Soon after Mrs. 
Susanna Roberts* added 2 other pieces of plate 
for collecting the offertory. See the said pieces : 

Prancis Conduitt -\ Rich'^ Horn / Church 

Curat. > and j Wardens, 

M.D.CCXLII. ) Will" Leger v. 1742. 
W" Pilcher pinxit . Deal. 
Eeside it, on another board : — 
St. Nicholas, 
Ash. 
Benefactions and Donations. 
1813. 
Grant from the Governors of Queen 
Anne's Bounty towards the purchase 
and enlargement of the Vicarage, 
and the purchase of Glebe land 
attached thereto , £600 

1818. 
Mrs. Elizabeth Godfrey, widow of Thos. 

Godfrey, Esq., towards ditto £500 

John Minet Eector, Esq., ditto 50 

Bey. Chas. James Burton, ditto 50 

Grant from the Governors of the Eund 
for the Augmentation of Small Livings, 
ditto 900 

£2,100 

* A tablet to her memory and that of her husband is on the south 
wall of the chancel, within the rails of the communion table. 



THE CHURCH AND ITS MONUMENTS. 201 

John Minet Pector, Esq., by bequest to 
the minister, which sum the Kev. 
Chas. James Burton gave towards the 
support of the Sunday school £10 

1819. 

Mrs. Elizabeth Godfrey, by gift of deed 
in the Court of Chancery, in trust to 
the trustees of the Cartwright Charity, 
all those messuages and tenements, 
with their appurtenances, comprising 
the girls' schoolroom and adjoining 
cottage. 

1832. 
Mrs. Elizabeth Godfrey, by bequest, in 
trust to the trustees of the Cartwright 
Charity 1000 

With which sum (less the legacy duty), was 
purchased in the 3 per Cent. Consols, £993. 2s. 2d. 
in the names of "W. E. Boteler, Esq., and Wm. 
Eriend, Esq., her executors, producing the yearly 
interest of £29. 15s. Id., to be appropriated to the 
repairs of the above-named messuages, etc. 

And the surplus, if any, to be expended in coats, to 
be distributed annually to the deserving poor residing 
in the parish. 

Rev. Charles Eorster, Curate. 

George Quested ^ 

EiCHARD HoLTUM j Churchwardens, 1839. 



202 A CORNER OF KENT. 

A third board records tliat : — 

''The Master and Pellows of Emmanuel College, 
Cambridge, gave a piece of land to the Incumbent 
and Churchwardens of Ash, for the site of an Infant 
School. 

''Mr. Tho'. Kelsey built an Infant School, at his 
own expense, on the site so given, and in August, 
1860, Mr. Kelsey conveyed by deed of gift to the 
Incumbent and Churchwardens of Ash for ever, 
and to three trustees, Messrs. Tho'. Coleman, John 
Maylam, and James Petley, lands and tenements in 
the parish of Ash, of the then yearly value of £68, 
for the perpetual endowment of the said Infant 
School." 

GooDBAN Charity. 

Interest of £100, 3 per Cent. Stock, to be given 
away at Christmas. 

Mrs. Mary Wood is now endowing the parish with 
£300 Bank Stock, the interest, after providing for the 
due preservation of her sister's monument, to be ex- 
pended in warm clothing for poor females in Ash, at 
the discretion of the Yicar and Churchwardens.* 



* While recording charities, we may mention that John Malyn, by 
will proved 10th January, 1473, bequeathed "To the lazars of Eche 
(Ash), near Sandwich, iiij^." It is probable, therefore, that there was 
a lazar-house somewhere in this parish at that period, but we have 
found no other indication of it. 



the church akd its monuments. 203 

The Monuments. 
The most ancient sepulchral effigy now extant in 
the church, is that of a knight, cross-legged, lying 
under an arch on the left of the doorway passing 
from the hisrh chancel to the Molland chancel. It 
has been appropriated by tradition to Sir John de 
Goshall, who lived in the time of Edward III. ; but 
the costume contradicts that assertion : and if it be 
indeed the effigy of a Sir Jolm^ it must be that of 
his grandfather, who possessed two knight's fees in 
Goldstanton and Goshall in the reigns of Henry III. 
and Edward I. The figure is represented in a long 
surcoat, open in front, of a form recalling to us 
that of Edmund Crouchback, Earl of Lancaster, in 
Westminster Abbey ; but this effigy presents us with 
the additional feature of those singular defences for 
the shoulder called ailettes^ which first make their 
appearance towards the close of the reign of 
Edward I., but were not common previous to that 
of his son and successor Edward II. In the will 
of Daniel Hole, quoted by Hasted (Hist. Kent, 
vol. III. page 692, note), the testator desires to be 
buried in the chancel of Ash Church, near the tomb 
of Sir John Goshall;* showing that as early as 

* " With a fair gray marble tombstone and superscription in brass 
for that he and his ancestors had lived at Goshall for an hundred 
years and upwards." We have not succeeded in finding his name in 
the burial registers of this parish. David Hole and others of the 
name occur, but no Daniel. Neither is there any fair gray marble 
stone remaining near the tomb of John de Goshall that would answer 
to the description. 



204 A CORNER OF KENT. 

1617, the date of that document, unless some other 
monument has disappeared, the name of John had 
been associated with this effigy. But for this fact, 
we should have been inclined to attribute it to Sir 
Henry de Goshall, probably son of the first, and 
father of the second Sir John, who was seised of 
Goshall in the reign of Edward II. In that case the 
female effigy in the cavity beneath, which is coeval 
with it, might have been fairly assumed to represent 
Margaret, daughter of Thomas, and sister of Nicholas 
de Sandwich, of Checquer, the wife of Henry de 
Goshall, as we have stated at page 65. There is 
nothing, however, in the costume of either effigy to 
forbid our admitting them to be those of the first Sir 
John and his lady, both of whom were living in the 
reign of Edward L, and probably did not die before 
the accession of Edward II.* The male figure has 
been engraved for the Journal of the Archaeological 
Institute, in illustration of a paper by Mr. Hewitt, 
who erroneously attributes it to one of the Leverick 
family. Our sketch of it is from the opposite side, 
showing the broken shield on which, in Philipot's 

time, were visible the arms of the Goshalls : 

semee of cross-crosslets a lion rampant 

crowned, as visible on the seal attached to a deed 
of the 7th of Edward III., preserved amongst 



* There was a Final Concord between John de Goshall and Henry 
Leverick and Margery his wife, in the thirty-fourth and last year of 
the reign of Edward I., A.D. 1306.— (Fic^ page 95.) 



Plate 7. 












Zig 1 Effigy of Sir Jolm Go shall p 2 03 




■►™~-"^^«^ 



Tig. 3. 
CapitalinlNfa^e 



4 






Tig. 4. 



AS^A' 








iHi 



n 



Iig. 7. 
PortioiL of ttLe SeplTajLS 
seat discoTered. 1864. 



FiQ'. 5 



Tig.b, 
Lid of Stoae CofiiTi. 





r "VMerJith.ie.ikttQii Gaidea. 



Fig. 2 




"W" C-. Smith., del et litti . 



Effigj of a Ladv (unknown.) p. 2 0b 



THE CHURCH AND ITS MONUMENTS. 205 

the Harleian Charters.* The effigy was no doubt 
originally completely painted and gilt; but not a 
trace of colour or metal is now discernible. The 
female effigy beneath is of much ruder work- 
manship, and has suffered also considerably from 
ill-treatment as well as time. It presents us, how- 
ever, with the distinctive features of the costume 
of a lady of the thirteenth or commencement of 
the fourteenth century. The head is enveloped in 
couvrechef and wimple, and the body in a robe 
reaching to the feet ; the long tight sleeves of 
the kirtle being visible from just below the elbow. 
This effigy, we believe, is now engraved for the 
first time. On the eastern side of the entrance 
to the Holland chancel, and on the north of the 
communion table, lies the effigy of one of the 
Leverick family, as evidenced by the arms which 
were in Philipot's time visible on the shield, but 
have now totally disappeared; viz.. Argent, on a 

* Vide Chapter V. In the Additional MS., No. 4579, from which 
already we have obtained such valuable information, is a sketch of 
this effigy, very ill drawn, but undoubtedly displaying both on the 
shield and surcoat the lion and cross- crosslets. Mr. Bryan Faussett, in 
his Church Notes, A.D. 1760, says: " On the femme side, I with much 
ado made out the arms of Septvans, alias Harflete, as in the following 
page, but the Baron's side was quite effaced." If not a mistake, this 
circumstance would prove that the shield had been re-painted 
between 1613 and 1760, and though in one sense incorrectly, as the 
arms of the wife were never displayed on the war shield of the 
knight, it would indicate the knowledge or belief at that time preva- 
lent, that this Sir John de Goshall had married the daughter of a 
Septvans. 



206 A CORNER OE KENT. 

cheyron sable three leopard's heads or.* We take 
this effigy to be that of Sir John Leverick, knight, 
of Ash, who married Joan, daughter of John 
Septvans, of Milton, living 1351, by a daughter of 
Koger Manston. The figure has been finely engraved 
by the late Mr. Stothard in his beautiful work, " The 
Sepulchral Effigies of Great Britain," and represents 
a knight of the latter part of the fourteenth century, 
temp. Edward III., in a highly ornamented suit of 
plate armour; the bascinet is spherical, with an 
escalloped border, and the camail is secured to the 
shoulders by embossed plates, representing lions' 
heads. The jupon, laced up the right side, is 
encircled by a magnificent military belt. The 
dagger is gone on the right side. The legs of the 
figure are crossed, and the feet rest on a lion, the 
head of which is remarkable for its life-like expres- 
sion. There is a great similarity between this e^gj 
and one in St. Peter's, Sandwich, erroneously attri- 
buted to a Sir John Grove, who died in the reign 
of Henry VI. Erom a sketch of the latter in Addi- 
tional MS. 4579 it clearly represents one of the 
Grove family ; but it is of the same date with this 
at Ash, and certainly not later than the time of 
Richard II. 



* The coat, as we Lave blazoned it, occurs in Philipot's " Ordinary 
Coll. of Arms," p. 94, as that of " Leverick of Carne, co. Dorset." 
There is also a pen-and-ink sketch of this effigy in the Additional 
MS. above quoted, with the arms distinctly drawn both upon shield 
and jupon. 



Plate 8 




'^tj^§-^^^t^i-^ 



'//ciilsrIitK 18 Harron taiden 



>imtiL del etlitti 



Effig}r of Sir JoliTL Le^enck. 



Platl 9 



m" 



\ 



riT 



^1 



it 






rw- 'W^ 




ilH'fe=^ 



^'-' ■■ .IP"' 






Fig, 



Grave stoxi.e of Richard CiLttierow 
and "Aftfe. p. 2 7. 



Hg.2, 

Bxass of JaxLC Keriel. 
p. 208. 



"WTG- SraiflL afil et Hth. 



-A'Valier.IithLiaHaLfcon Garden 



THE CHTJIICH AND ITS MONUMENTS. 207 

On the floor, and nearly in the centre of the high 
chancel, are the remains of a fine brass of the fifteenth 
century, once commemorating Richard Clitherow, of 
Ash, Esquire, Lord of the Manor of Goldstanton, now 
Goldston, in this parish, Sheriff of the county of Kent, 
fourth and fifth of Henry lY., and Admiral of the 
Seas from the Thames westward ; and his wife, 
daughter of Sir John Oldcastle. Weever has pre- 
served the portion of the inscription remaining in his 
time : *' Hie jacet .... Clitherow Ar. & . . . . 
uxor ejus filia Johannis Oldcastell qui obiit . . . ." — 
(Euneral Mon. p. 264.) The upper portion of the 
figure of the lady now alone remains, arrayed in kirtle 
and mantle, couvrechef and barbe, i. e., a piece of linen 
closely plaited, worn above the chin by all noble 
ladies in mourning down to the rank of a baroness, 
and under the chin by lords' daughters and knights' 
wives ; the inferior gentry and '^ chamberers " being 
ordered to wear the barbe '' below the throat goyll," 
that is, the lowest part of the neck. In this example 
the barbe is represented as covering the neck, and 
coming up close under the chin, as the daughter of 
Sir John Oldcastle, who assumed, in right of his 
wife, to be Lord Cobham. The Q^^j of her husband 
is totally gone, together with one of the crocketed 
canopies, the inscription, the miniature effigies of six 
children at their feet, and four shields of arms, three 
of which, from a drawing in the Additional MS. 
before quoted, exhibited (1) Clitherow, three cups 
covered within a bordure engrailed, impaling Old- 



208 A CORNER OF KENT. 

castle .... a castle triple-towered; (2) Clitherow 
alone, and (3) Oldcastle quartering party per pale, a 
double-headed eagle displayed.* It is grievous to 
look upon the desecrated slab, and think that wanton 
mischief or paltry cupidity should have been suffered 
to deprive us of siXch interesting memorials. 

Side by side with it lies a similar record, which has 
fortunately escaped such wholesale spoliation. It is 
the brass of Jane, daughter of Eoger Clitherow, son 
of the Richard before mentioned, and wife of John 
Keriel, second son of Sir William, and brother of 
Sir Thomas Keriel, K.G., beheaded 1461. As nothing 
appears to have been said about the lady or her 
husband by any one who has noticed her gravestone, 
we will here briefly state that she appears to have 
been born between the years 1420 and 1430, and 
died before 12th March, 1454-5, the date of her 
father's death, without issue by her husband, who 
was for many years a prisoner in Prance, Leland says 
from 1450 to 1472. He married, secondly, Elizabeth 
Chiche, who survived him, and married two other 

* Harris says the Clitherows of Goldston and Little Betshanger 
bore Argent, on a chevron gules between three spread-eagles sable 
five annulets or ; and Oldcastle, Per pale argent and gules an eagle 
displayed counterchanged ; but the seal of Sir John Oldcastle, 
attached to an indenture made between him and his wife Johanna 
on the one part, and Sir Thomas Brooke on the other, exhibited 
Quarterly, 1st and 4th, a castle ; 2nd and 3rd Cobham : and it was 
circumscribed, " Sigillum Johannis Oldcastle D'ni de Cobham." — 
(MS. Coll. Arms, Philipot, P. E. I. p. 107.) The '^ party per pale and 
eagle displayed " coat was, as we have seen, occasionally quartered 
with Oldcastle, and was also in the windows of Ash Church. 



THE CHURCH AND ITS MONUMENTS. 209 

husbands, but had no issue by any, and died in 1499. 
We have no record of his death or the place of his 
burial, but it is not improbable that he also was 
buried here, as the figure of a Keriel kneeling in his 
coat armour A¥as formerly in the windows of this 
church, as we have stated at page 189. She is repre- 
sented in the full gown of the period, girdled at the 
waist, with wide sleeves, and wearing what has been 
designated the mitre-shaped head-dress of the reign 
of Henry YI., a fashion the varieties of which are 
almost innumerable, and more or less extravagant, 
according to the caprice or taste of the wearer. 
Beneath the figure are the following lines : — 

Pi'ey for the sowle of Jane Keriell 

Ye ffrendes alle that forthby pass 

In endeles ijfe perpetuell 

That God it grawnt mcy [mercj| and grace. 

Roger Clitherowe her fader was 

Thowgh erthe to erthe of kind reto^'ne 

Prey that the sowle in blisse sojo^^ne. 

The slab was formerly adorned with four cscu- 
cheons of arms, long since lost, two of which it would 
seem bore those of Keriel : Two chevrons and a 
canton, the latter charged with a crescent for ditfer- 
ence, impaling Clitherow.* Nearer the altar-rails, 

* Additional MS., Brit. Mus., No. 4579, wherein the effigy and 
shields are rudely drawn. The loss of the other two is the more de- 
plorable, as they doubtlessly displayed the arms of her own family, 
and might have accounted for those of " Wolfe" displayed on the 
mantle of " the wife of Keriell " in the old window. 



210 A CORNER OF KENT. 

and at the foot of Richard Clitherow's gravestone, 
is a slab, from which the whole of the brasses haye 
disappeared, and, in fact, has been so much injm^ed 
by time or ill usage, that it is difficult to decide 
whether it ever possessed more than one brass, which 
seems to have represented the upper portion of a 
male figure (whether in civil or military habit we 
will not undertake to say), with an inscription 
beneath it. 

This may be the gravestone of Roger Clitherow, 
son of the above Richard, and father of Jane Keriel, 
who in his will desires to be buried " in the quire of 
St. Nicholas, Ashe," near Johanna [Stoughton], his 
daughter ; bequeathing a missal to the altar, and 
ten marks for all things necessary to it, and the 
residue of his estate to his wife Matilda, who is 
appointed executrix in conjunction with Thomas 
Hardres and John Oxenden. His wife Matilda, by 
her will proved in 1457, also desired to be buried 
in the choir here near her husband ; devising to John, 
son of John Norrys, and Eleanor his wife (who was 
her eldest daughter), the whole suit of armour of her 
late husband ; a bequest, perhaps, the more precious, 
as it was probably the one he fought in at the memo- 
rable battle of Agincourt. In this chancel must also 
have been the tombstone of William Norrys, of Ash, 
gentleman, a descendant of the above-named John, 
probably his grandson, who by his will dated Sep- 
tember 10, I486, and proved at Canterbury before 
the Prior and Chapter 20th November the same year. 



THE CHURCH AND ITS MONUMENTS. 211 

desires to be buried in the cliancel of Our Lady in the 
parish of Ash, at the south end of the altar there, 
that his red cloth of Bauderkyn* be laid upon his 
body in the said church of Ash, and is there to remain 
for a perpetual remembrance, and a black cloth and 
two tapers thereon set, to be lit and burning in 
the time of saying Divine service there, to be had 
and ordained over his tomb for a special remembrance 
of prayer. That a convenient stone be set in the ivall 
before his said tomb, under the image of Mary 
Magdalen there, with an image of the Trinity graven 
in brass, and picture of his body and arms therein 
set for a special remembrance of prayer. No trace 
of this stone existed in the old wall here specified, 
which was thoroughly repaired and partially rebuilt 
in 1861. Nor can we venture to speculate on the 
position which the image of Mary Magdalen occupied 
at the period in question. It is probable they both 
disappeared at the Reformation. 

There were several other dilapidated gravestones 
on the floor of the chancel, which were taken up 
during the recent repairs ; but being for the most part 
broken, as well as entirely destitute of any traces of 
sculpture or inscription, it was not thought necessary 
to replace them. 

On the north wall of the chancel is the following 
inscription on a mural tablet, surmounted by the 

* BaldekiD, a rich stuff originally manufactured at Baldeck, whence 
the name. The French call a canopy baldaquin, from the material 
of which it is composed. 

p 2 



212 A CORNER OF KENT. 

arms of Cartwrigkt : Or, a fess embattled between 
three cartwheels sable ; crest, a griffin's head erased. 

In a vault in this Chancell 

lieth interr'd 

the body of M^'^ Eliz. Cartwright, widdow, 

who 

departed this life Decemb^- 2^^ 1713. 

As also of Jervas Cartwright, Esq^^ 
her only son, who died A|/ 6*^ 1721. 

And M^"s Eleanor and M^"^ Ann Cartwright, 

her daughters, who died 

the one Jan 20*^ | 

theother Febyl9t^/ ^^^^-^ 

At their desirs this Chancell was 

beautified and adorn'd and by their 

order a Charity school was 

erected in this Parish and munificently 

endow'd for ever. 

Inasmuch as you have done it unto one 

of the least of these my brethren, ye 

have done unto Me. 

St Matt. C. 25th Y. 40. 

Blessed are the dead what dye in the 

Lord, for they rest from their labours 

and their works doe follow them. 

On the floor of the chancel, within the altar-rails, is 
an additional memorial of these worthy persons, in 
the shape of one of the most singularly constructed 
Latin epitaphs we have ever met with. 

'^ Old style; we should say 1722. 



THE CHURCH AND ITS MONUMENTS. 213 

H. S. E. 

Gervasius Cartwright, Armiger, 

Londini natus 

Hujusce Parochise dum vixit 

Decus et tutamen. Qui 

fin Deum pietatem 

c.. j In cosjnatos charitatem I .^^ 

Smceram i -r ■, ^ . . \ ita exercuit. 

In egenos beneiicientiam 

In omnes deniq' morum suavitatem 

Ut non magis omnibus peramatus vixerit. 

Quam desideratus Occident 

Yitam tranquille instituendo semper felix evasit 

Tandem sequa animi serenitate deponendo felicior 

Cum enim mors ipsa 

Apertis armata terroribus 

Certum intenderet telum 

Mira constantia 

Crudelem imperterritus excepit Ictum 

Et Deo conservatori 

Animam placidissime reddidit 

Ingens sane X^anse Fortitudinis Exemplum 

nee vanum futures illius 

quam animitus anhelabat 

Felicitatis Indicium 

In Pauperiorum hujus Parochise Alumnorum Eruditionem. 

.... impendendas in perpetuum reliquit. 

Obiit 6 die Aprilis, 

Anno j^'o-i"* 1721- 
C ^tatis 44. 

Juxta hoc locum conduntur reliquiae 

Dilectissimarum Sororum 

Eleonor^ J 

et > Cartwright, Virginum, 

Ann^ j 

Quae ne nimium diu tarn cbaro capite carerent 

Post decem menses morte 

Fratrum libenter secutse sunt 

Ilia 20 die Januarii > . -p. • • i^,i zrii. j. f 47 

H^c 19 Februarii } ^"•^° ^°"'^" ^^H ^*^*- { 46 



214 A CORNER 01' KENT. 

Above it the arms of Cartwrigbt, as in the mural 
tablet. 

On the east end of the south wall of chancel, facing 
Mr. Cartwright's :— 

In a vault in this Chancell 

lieth interred 

The body of Henry Egberts, Esq^" 

Grandson of Sir W^ Roberts 

Of Wilsden in y<^ County of Middlesex^ Bar* 

who died Feby 25^^ 1718. 

He had issue by Susanna his wife three 

sons and two daughters viz : Catherine, Henry, 

Harry, Susanna and Henry of which y^ first 

and the last only surviv'd ; the rest are 

with him in the same vault. 

As also M^^ Eleanor Roberts his Sister 

who died Feb! 1^^ 1719. 

" Come ye beloved of my Father inherit the 

Kingdom prepared for you from the 

Foundation of the World." S^ Mat. c. 25, v. 34. 

In the same vault is also interr'd the 

body of M^s Susanna Roberts, late 

wife of the above Henry Roberts Esq^. 

Obiit the IV^ of Feby 1730. Mb. 44. 

Arms : Argent, three pheons sable, on a chief of 
the second a greyhound courant of the first, 
Roberts ; impaling, argent, on a mound vert a bull 
gules. Crest : A greyhound sejant argent. 



THE CHURCH AND ITS MONUMENTS. 215 

In Memory of 

Edward Solly Esq^' ; 

of London, a descendant 

of the Solly's formerly of 

Pedding and the Moat 

in this Parish, who died 

30*^ March 1792 aged 

63 years. 

Also Samuel Solly Esq^" of London, 

his brother who died 5*^ of Jany 1807, 

aged 79 years. 

And of Sarah Solly wife of 

Samuel Solly, who died 

14th of November 1805, 

Aged 59 years. 



In memory of 

Thomas Coleman, 

of Goss Hall in this Parish, where he resided 

during the last thirty-eight years of his life. 

He died February 23^, 1856, aged 67 years. 



NORTH WALL OP CHANCEL. 

In memory of 

William Brett, Esq^^,* 

Cap* of the Hoyal Navy, 

Late of Guilton in this Parish, 

who died Jany y^ 19 1769, 

Aged 51. 

Frances his Wife (who 

erected this monument) died 

Jany 11, 1773, aged 39. 

W. F. Brett their son 

died March y^ 17 1779, 

Aged 13. 

Frances their daughter died July 14 1778, aged 23. 



* He was brother of Sir Percy (or Percival) Brett, Knt., M.P. for 
Queensborough 28th Geo. 11. and 1st & 7th Geo. III. 



216 A CORNER OP KENT. 

Above the inscription are the arms of Brett: Argent, 
a lion rampant gules, an orle of cross-crosslets fitchee 
of the 2nd ; impaling, argent, on a cheyron gules 
between three lion's jambs sable as many crescents 
or, for Harvey. 



Sacred to the Memory of 

John Godfrey Esq^, 

of Brooke House in this Parish, 

Magistrate and Deputy Lieutenant of the County of Kent, 

who died January 26*^ 1861, aged 71. 

His truest memorial is in the hearts of his Family, 

his friends, and the people of this parish. 

*' The path of the just is as the shining light that 

shineth more and more unto the perfect day." 

Prov. iv. 18. 

Also to 

Augusta Frances Elizabeth, 

eldest and beloved daughter of the above, 

who died May 15^^, 1861, aged 36. 

" Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall 

see God." Matt. v. 8. 

Arms : Azure, a chevron or between three pelican's 
heads, erased. Crest : A demi-man naked, holding 
in his right hand a cross-crosslet. Motto : '' Corde 
Eixam/' 



THE CHURCH AND ITS MONUMENTS. 217 

Sacred to the Memory of 

Arthuk William Godfrey, 

second sod of John and Augusta Isabella Godfrey, 

of Brooke House in this Parish. 

Born at S* Hillier's Jersey, Jany W\ 1829 ; 

Entered 2^ Batt. Kifle Brigade as 2^^ Lieut. Dec'^ 30th, 1845, 

from H.M. College, Sandhurst j 

Served in Nova Scotia and Lower Canada, 

and as Lieut. 1^* Batt. in the Kaffir War, 1852-53, 

for which he obtained the Medal. 

Served also with distinction in the Crimea, 

and gained the medal and clasps for 

Alma, Balaclava, Inkerman. 

Died on 27^^ of Nov^, 1854, of Cholera, in Camp before Sebastopol. 

His brother officers in affectionate commemoration, 

of his worth and gallantry, 

erected a stone over his grave on 

Cathcart's Hill. 



" The righteous hath hope in his death." 



This monument is erected by those to whom alone his value 
and endearing qualities were fully known. 



Same arms as on the last» 



ON THE FLOOR OF THE CHANCEL. 

Benjamin Longley, LL.B. 

Minister of y^® Parish 29 years ; 

Also Yicar of Eynsford 

and of Tongue. 

Died 6tii Feb. 1783, 

aged 68. 

Frances Longley, 

sister of the above, born 

31 Oct. 1729 ; died 26th Dec^ 

1813. 



218 A GORNEH OF KENT. 

Beneath lies 
the remaiDS of 
Joseph Smith, 

late Curate 

of this Parish. 

Died May 22, 1817, 

aged 32 years. 

Passing into the MoUand^ or St. Nicholas chancel, 
the eye is attracted by the fine alabaster effigies of a 
knight and lady upon an altar-tomb under a canopy 
against the north wall, on the eastern side of the 
window. These noble examples of the sculpture of 
the fifteenth century represent John Septvans, Esquire 
of the Body to King Henry VI., and founder of a 
chantry here, who died A.D. 1458, and his wife, 
Katherine, who died in 1498. This John Septvans 
was the son of John Septvans, of St. Lawrence and 
Constance St. Nicholas, and nephew of Joan Septvans, 
wife of Sir John Leverick, of Ash, whose effigy imme- 
diately facing we have recently described. " Kateryn 
Martin, of the town of Feversham, widow," by her 
will dated 14 April, 1495, and proved 19 January, 
1498, desires to be buried ''in the parish church of 
Ash, in the same tomb where the body of John 
Septvans, her husband, resteth." She bequeaths 
to the chantry of the Upper Hall, founded by her 
husband, for ever, 20 shillings annually of '' the land 
which lyeth, or beith next to the said chantry," upon 
this condition, that there be kept annually in the 
parish church of Ash an obit for the souls of her 
relations and friends. That after the decease of her 



Platl 10 








Sinitb del "t hlk 




Effigies of Jolm. Septvaiis EscF® &- liis Wile 

^ \no ^ -L ^^''" " ^-'■-. I" Batten (Jaiden. 

p. Clio. 



THE CHURCH AND ITS MONUMENTS. 219 

daughter, Edythe Wygmere (Wigmore), the manor 
of Short (Shoart) be divided among the daughters of 
her son, John Wygmere, viz., Margaret, Elizabeth, 
Anne, and Beatrix ; each of them to have portion 
alike, and to be each other's heirs ; and, if all decease 
unmarried, then the same to be distributed towards 
maiden's marriages, highways, and other charitable 
deeds.* 

To return to our effigies. The male figure is 
in the full military costume of the middle of 
the fifteenth century, consisting of a complete suit 
of plate armour, with elegantly designed knee and 
elbow pieces; the thighs protected by what were 
termed tuilles, fastened by straps and buckles to 
the taces or tassets ; horizontal bands of steel 
forming a sort of skirt to the breast-plate, over which, 
at this period, was worn a tabard of arms, with 
sleeves nearly to the elbow, and open at the side from 
the hips.t Eound his neck is a collar of SS., denoting 
his rank of Esquire of the Body to the sovereign. 
The hair is cut close above the ears, a fashion intro- 



* Prerog. Office, Canterbury. In Sittingbourne Church was for- 
merly "On a fayre Alabaster Tomb" this : — "Pray for y^ soul of 
John Sepuans, Esq'", of y^ Isle of Thanett, sonne of John Sepuans, of 
this Parish, Esq'^, and for the soule of Katharine his wife, w^^ Jo^ 
dyed ye 28 Decemb'*, 1458."— (Harleian MS., No. 3917.) 

t The drawing of this effigy in the Additional MS., so often quoted,, 
shows the three fans on the tabard. The monument is described as 
*' a very large tomb in the north chancel in the wall, of a second 
brother of the Sepvans, who lies in his coat of arms with a collar of 
SS about his neck. He dwelt in the Isle of Thanet." 



220 A CORNER or KENT. 

duced at the beginning of the fifteenth century; and 
the head, represented partially bald, reposes on a 
tilting helmet supported by angels, and surmounted 
by the torse, or wreath, out of which issues the crest 
of this branch of the family, the head of a fish erect, 
or hawiant, as it is termed in heraldry ; those of the 
Harfleet line bearing an entire fish — " a bream in its 
proper colours" (Yinct. 145, Coll. Arms), in a hori- 
zontal position, or naiant, i.e., swimming.* The feet 
of the effigy, in pointed sollerets, rest upon a couchant 
lion. The cuffs of the gauntlets, and the edges of the 
jambs, or leg-pieces, have a richly ornamented border. 
The openings between the jambs and the sollerets 
are protected by gussets of chain ; and a thick gorget 
of chain protects the neck. The sword, somewhat 
mutilated, is on the left of the figure ; and the dagger, 
the hilt of which is gone, as well as the belt by which 
it was suspended, lies on the right. The lady is 
represented in the dress of a noble widow, '' barbed 
above the chin," with an ample veil, and wearing a 
kirtle with tight sleeves buttoned at the wrist, over 
which is a very full-skirted surcoat, reaching in 
graceful folds to the feet, and itself surmounted by a 
mantle of state, with cords and tassets dependent. 
At her feet are the remains of a small headless 
animal — probably a dog. The lady's head reposes on 
two square cushions, tasselled at the corners, the 

* By another authority it is called " a chevin," i.e., a chub, and 
we incline to think that this is its most correct designation, for 
reasons we shall adduce in our 5th chapter. 



THE CHURCH AND ITS MONUMENTS. 221 

upper one placed diamond fashion, and supported by 
angels. On each side of the recess in which the tomb 
stands are places formerly occupied by shields of arms. 
The tomb itself, of dark grey marble, is simply 
ornamented with quatrefoils. Here, again, we have 
to deplore tlie loss of the armorial bearings, which, in 
this case, prevents our perfectly clearing up one of 
the mysteries both genealogical and architectural of 
this interesting memoriaL In the first place, these 
effigies are declared not to belong to the altar-tomb 
on which they now are placed ; and that the tomb 
itself, as well as the effigies, have been removed from 
some other part of the church* — the now demolished 
chapel or aisle on the south side of it, as supposed by 
some who have taken an interest in the subject ; and 
in the second place, there is much confusion and 
misunderstanding respecting the lady presumed to be 
represented by the female effigy. 

Had all the shields of arms been fortunately pre- 
served, they must have thrown some light on both 
these questions. One, however, and a most important 
one, was existing in 1760, when it was drawn by 
Mr. Bryan Eaussett. It was the small one in the 
point of the arch above the monument, and displayed 

* It is worth noting that the tomb which formerly existed in 
Sittingbourne Church, and on which was an inscription respecting this 
very John Septvans and Katharine his wife, was of " fayre alabaster," 
as are their effigies here. Is it possible that the effigies were 
removed previous to 1613 from Sittingbourne to this church, and 
placed on the tomb of Purbeck marble in or under which the bodies 
were actually deposited ? 



^22 A COHNER OE KENT. 

Septvans impaling a fess between three fleurs-de-lys in 
chief, and three fishes naiant in. base, giyen by Philipot 
as the arms of Kirton. If the effigies did not originally 
repose under the canopy which now overhangs them, 
either on the tomb at present there, or on a similar 
one, the armorial bearings within the recess and 
above it would, in all reasonable probability, have 
proclaimed them intruders. On the contrary, if 
rightfully entitled to rest there, the family of the 
lady (there can be no doubt about her husband) 
might have been satisfactorily ascertained. At present 
we can only draw our conclusions from the solitary 
shield just mentioned, the vague wording of the will 
we have just quoted, and some Church Notes by 
Philipot in the Harleian Collection, British Museum, 
No. 3917, from which we gather that she was by 
birth a Kirton ; that after the death of John Septvans, 
Esq., December 28, 1458, she married a gentleman 
named Wigmore, by whom she had a son, John, who 
died October 23, 1492, leaving by his wife Edith 
three daughters, who, with their mother, were all 
living in 1495 ; and that after the decease of Katha- 
rine's second husband, Wigmore, she married thirdly 
.... Martin, of Eeversham, dead in 1495, in the 
April of which year she made her will as his widow, 
and desired to be buried with her husband, John 
Septvans, at Ash. The evidence in support of this 
view will be found more fully detailed in our fifth 
chapter by those who are inclined to pursue the 
subject ; but we by no means consider it conclusive. 



THE CHURCH AND ITS MONUMENTS. 223 

The effigy of the lady on this tomb is, as we have 
remarked, hsLrhed above the chin, a distinction limited 
at the time of the decease of Katharine Martyn to 
ladies not lower in rank than the wishes of barons, by 
the funeral ordinances of Margaret Tudor, mother of 
King Henry VII. That sumptuary laws were con- 
tinually evaded we admit ; but the sculptor's object 
would be, of course, to indicate correctly the rank of 
the person commemorated, and neither as the wife 
of Septvans, Wigmore, or Martyn, could Katharine 
Kirton have been entitled to such a distinction. 
We have just pointed out to the reader the strict 
attention paid to this apparently trivial point in the 
brass of the daughter of Sir John Oldcastle. Two 
questions therefore suggest themselves : (1) Is the 
effigy that of Katharine ? (2) Are the arms 
those of Kirton ? She might be buried according 
to her directions, in her husband's tomb ; but it does 
not follow that she was his only wife. He might 
have had a previous one of higher rank ; and the fact 
of Katharine having survived him forty years, is 
strongly indicative of his having been considerably 
her senior, and therefore likely to have been a widower 
at the time of their marriage. As yet we have failed 
to discover a family of Kirton, bearing the arms 
attributed to them. Philipot, in his Church Notes 
(Harleian MS. 3917), describing the tomb at Sitting- 
bourne, says doubtfully : " her arms ... Kirton ?," and 
speaks of ''4 escocheons, 3 gon, and y^ fourth, the 
which is y^ armes of Valoynesy further research may 



224 A CORNER OP KENT. 

yet decide this question. I will only add, respecting the 
original position of these effigies, that John Brooke, of 
whom we shall presently have to speak, desires in his 
will in 1582 to be buried in St. Nicholas' chancel, 
'' under the north window, hy Sepham^s tomb, close 
by the wall. Now, if Sepham be, as it is considered, 
one of the many corruptions of the name of Septvans, 
the position of Brooke's gravestone proves that the 
tomb, at any rate, was not far from that spot in 1582 ; 
but, as if purposely to complicate matters, there was 
a knightly Kentish family of the name of Sepham, 
whose arms were semee of cross-crosslets, three roses, 
and who matched with the Cobhams and other families 
of distinction in this county ; and it is not, of course, 
impossible, that a Sepham may have been buried 
at Ash in the fourteenth or fifteenth century. The 
cruel despoliation the recess and canopy have under- 
gone in the abstraction of the shields of arms, which 
could have enlightened us, cannot be sufficiently 
deplored or reprobated. 

On the floor of this chancel at the back of the 
Goshall monument, is a large slab with brasses in 
tolerable preservation, commemorating Christopher 
Septvans, alias Harfleet, of Molland, Esquire, and 
his wife, the daughter of Thomas Hendley, in some 
documents called Margaret, and in others Maria and 
Mercy. 

The brass fillet on which was the description of 
the persons represented has been partially destroyed. 
It reads at present as follows : — '*Hic jacent corpora 



LATL 



HaRFLET DE CHEKERINB\R0CHTAPE ASHARMIGERiqyiKATVS FVirPIE S'^CHAEUSA" Do:]567 SCOB^T 




p z^i sraawaDHQ ^ajt xMo !s ^jl$i AtaIo^^ xiaj v^xvawKt:) 'i^ia^iWHV j^ivhtaj 3cr ysMonvir) 



tiD 



:^ 




-». ^arfle'te' tip' mofanb w "^Iff) 'H.nmap'n nm natugt fuit ;rj>° &te' !3fuYi.T j^ 



<^ 


^ 




^ 


# 




.^5^i' 




^S'^ 


b 







*tMi 


^^ 


^^ 


*^^ 


£^IK. 


OT 


\^ 




^ f^-cgpQt iiHvy ^iq tiajr^r ;nq® ;^ ofc^i jgrni^y?^- /i^-r ;in; ^;bu janti u^giiuJB wbu® ^1 J^iQU^l^. ij 



.2P 



CD 

cn . 

lO 



THE CHURCH AND ITS MONUMENTS. 225 

Christopher! Septvans alias Harflete de MoUand in 
Ash, Armigeri qui natus fuit xx° die Julii .... 

Hendley de Offam 

Amig^ri quse nata fuit xxix Septembris 1530 et 
obiit xxvii die Maii, 1602." We have, therefore, 
neither the date of Christopher's death, nor the 
Christian name of his wife preserved to us ; but con- 
sidering the vrholesale spoliation in other instances, 
we cannot be too grateful for what remains in the 
present. Christopher Harfleet, we know from other 
sources, died in 1575. His widow, who had been 
previously the wife of Edmond Eowler, of Islington, 
Esq.,* survived him, therefore, twenty-seven years. 
In one of the windows at Holland, over the arms, 
may clearly be deciphered '' Ma — rcie filia T. 
Hend . . . le armigeri" (^vide page 119) ; while in 
another it appears like '^ Mar — r^^." In the Burial 
E^egister, under the date of May 27, 1602 (the very 
day of her death according to the monumental in- 
scription), the entry is ''Mercie Harflete Widdow;" 
and as her son Walter had a daughter named Mercy, 
and we do not find the name of Margaret given to 
any of her children, we think we may lean to the 
side of Mercy without any detriment to justice. t 

* By whom she had three sons and one daughter, viz., Sir Thomas 
Fowler, Kt., of Walmestone, John, and Edmond, who died without 
issue, and Alicia, the wife of Edmund Oxenden, of Winghara, Esq. — 
(MSS. Coll. Arms; Philipot, 26-27 ; Vincent, 119 ; and J. P., Q^.) 

t In her will (Prerog. Office, Canterbury) the name is written Mary 
in the first folio, and Marcy in the following on-e ; and a marginal 

Q 



226 A CORNER OF KENT. 

The figures of Christopher and his wife are engraved 
with much feeling and spirit. He is in armour, but 
bare-headed and looking towards the lady. His beard 
is peaked, a ruff close round the neck surmounts 
the gorget. The breastplate has the projecting ter- 
mination characteristic of that period, in which 
it took the shape of what was called '' the peasecod 
bellied doublet " of the civilian. The pauldrons (i. e, 
shoulder-plates) are very large ; and long tassets, 
rounded at the bottom, are suspended from the 
breastplate and strapped over the trunk-hose; leg- 
pieces and round-toed sollerets complete the defence 
of the person. The pommel of the hilt of the 
dagger which, according to the fashion of that day, 
is worn horizontally at the back, is just visible on 
the right, and a long sword with a bow guard hangs 
straight beside him on the left, the point resting on 
the ground. In his right hand, raised to his breast, 
he holds a small prayer-book. 

The lady wears that peculiar cap which is popularly 
called " Mary Queen of Scots," a large ruff, and cover- 
ing for the neck called a partlet, a peaked stomacher, 
an ample gown with turnover collar, open in front, 
and displaying a richly embroidered petticoat. 

Over the head of each figure is a shield of arms. 
The one on the right displaying three winnowing 
screens or fans, the later coat of Septvans; and that 

note is made in the book (No. 59, folio 69) to that effect. From 
this document, dated 14th of May, 44th Queen Elizabeth (1602), we 
learn that these fine brasses were executed by her own order. 



THE CHURCH AND ITS MONUMENTS. 227 

on the left the same impaling Hendley of Otham, 
quartering Argent, a saltier raguly between four 
torteaux, on a chief azure a hind couchant, or : 
Hendley of Coseburne (?). 

Between the figures, in a square, is a large shield 
of quarterings of the Harfleet family, corresponding 
with that formerly in the church window, with 
helmet, crest (the fish nalant), and mantlings. 
Below the figures are the following lines : — 

" Quid genus humanu sine Ohristo pulvis et umbra 

Limus, fax, fumus, debita massa neci 
Quid genus humanu in Christo, divina propago 

Christi solius morte redempta Deo. 
Ergo nosce Deum, Christum cole, sperne caduca. 

Sterna vita morte fruere pia." 

Below these lines again there are two cavities in 
the stone where small oblong brasses have been 
fastened, most probably engraved with figures of 
their children. 

Close beside Christopher and Mercy Harfleet lie 
the bodies of Walter their son, and his wife Jane 
Challoner. The brasses are in perfect preservation, 
representing Walter and his wife with their respective 
shields of arms, and, in miniature, their three sons 
Thomas, Walter, and John ; and their three daughters, 
Jane, Mercy, and Joan. The inscription, which is 
complete, reads as follows : '' Hie jacet corpus 
Walteri Septvans alias Harflete de Cheker in 
Parochia de Ash Armigeri qui natus fuit die Set' 
Michaelis A.D. 1567 & obiit 4" die Junii 1642, & 

Q 2 



228 A CORNER OE KENT. 

Jana uxor ejus filia Johannis Challoner de Pulham 
Armigeri quae nata fuit 23^ Julii 1576 & obiit 
4° die Decembris 1626." Walter is represented in 
the civil dress of a gentleman of the reign of Charles I. 
He wears long hair and peaked beard, a short-waisted 
doublet with tabs, full breeches, stockings, and shoes 
with large shoe-strings, a very deep rehato or fall- 
ing collar, and a long full cloak over his shoulders. 
In his right hand he holds a small prayer-book. 

His wife is represented with a large veil over her 
cap or coif; a full gown, with short, loose sleeves; a 
boddice, with tabs, encircled with a girdle tied in a 
precise bow, and a large falling collar. She holds a 
small prayer-book in her right hand, and a kerchief 
in her left. Over the head of the male figure is a 
shield, with the three fans and a mullet for difiPerence. 
Over that of the female, the same impaling three 
mascles and a chief — the arms of Challoner. 

Between them, in a circle, is a shield of quarterings 
of the Harfieet family, as in the adjacent brass, with 
helmet, crest, and mantlings. Beneath the figures 
are the following lines : — 

" Nominis egregium decus et solidata propago. 

Nunc ciuis (amplexus conjugis ossa) jacet 
Quam bene disposuit commissa charismata servns 

Si fas sit dicas, utilis ille fuit 
Impiger et prudens vitee documenta reliquit 

Et moriente omnes hinc dedicere mori." 

On the south wall, at the east end, over the effigy 
of Sir John Leverick, is a mural m.onument to Sir 



Plate 12 




CD 



e5 









^ 




Ph 



cd 

-^ 

-i-i 

V 

1 

cd ^ 
H CU 

g rvj 

t — I 



i 



THE CHURCH AND ITS MONUMENTS. 229 

Thomas Harfleet (the elder brother of Walter) and 
his second wife, Bennet Berisford. The figures of Sir 
Thomas and his lady are represented kneeling. He 
is in armour similar to that of his father, Christoplier, 
and the lady in the full costume of her period, with 
Prench hood, ample rufiF, and farthingale. In front 
of the prie-dieu, between them, is a shield of arms : 
Harfleet impaling Berisford. Over the head of Sir 
Thomas are the arms of his father and mother 
(Septyans impaling Hendley), and oyer those of Lady 
Harfleet the arms of her parents (Berisford impaling 
gules six plates, each charged with a fleur-de-lys 
sable.) (Kniyet?) Between these shields is the 
following inscription : — 

Here lyethe y^ bodyes of S^ Thomas 

Septvans al's Harflete of Molland in 

this P'ishe Knight who died ye 

\bla7iJc left for date] 
and the Ladye Bennet his wife 
daughter of Michael Berisford of 
Westerham in y^ county of Kent 

Esquier which Lady Bennet 

dyed y^ 2^ daye of July A^ Dni 

1612 being of the age of 

46 years. 

On that portion of the base of the monument 
immediately under the figure of Lady Harfleet, are 
sculptured seyen female children, all arrayed like 
the mother, but the four first and the last much 
smaller than the other two, and carrying skulls in 
their hands. The two largest are no doubt intended 



230 A CORNER OF KENT. 

to represent her daughters E/Ose and Jane, who 
married Tripp and Toldervey. The other five, children 
deceased in her lifetime — viz., an infant buried 
March 12, 1585— Elizabeth, baptized April 25, 1598, 
and buried Sept. 27, 1599 — and Katharine, Susan, 
and Hose, who all three died in one month, August, 
1593. The corresponding side is blank, but may 
originally have contained the figures of the sons, 
Michael and Christopher.* 

In a line with this, at the west end of the south wall, 
is the often mentioned. Toldervey monument. Chris- 
topher Toldervey and his wife Jane (daughter of Thos. 
Harfleet and the Lady Bennet just spoken of) are 
similarly represented kneeling, one on each side of a 
prie-dieu: the husband in the civil costume of a 
gentleman of the commencement of the seventeenth 
century, wearing doublet, full breeches, cloak, and 
ruff. The wife in Erench hood, gown, mantle, and 
ruff. Beneath them this inscription : — 

Here lye the the body of Christopher Toldervey of Chartham 
Sonne & heire of Christopli^' Toldery late of London Esq'" 
deceased ; he had to wife Jane daiight^' to Sir Thomas 
Harefleete K* with whom not longer livinge hee 

depi'ted this life y"- 25*^ of April 1618. 

in y^ 32^^ year of his age in acknowledgement of 

whose kind love as well y^ said Jane his wife as 

Kichard Camden Gent, his kiasman have caused 

this remembrance of him to be here erected. 



* Mr. Bryan Faussett, in 1760, says, " The marble under the man 
on which I imagine were the figures of the sons, is lost." 



THE CHURCH AND ITS MONUMENTS. 231 

Above the monument is a shield of arms, with 
helmet and crest, displaying the armorial bearings of 
Toldervey : Azure, a fess or in chief, two cross- 
crosslets fitchee of the second. Crest : A dexter hand 
proper grasping a sea-shell, sable ; and above the 
prie-cUeu, between the figures, the same impaling 
Septvans. On the floor of this chancel, to the north 
of the Harfleet brasses, are several memorials of the 
Peke family, some quite illegible. The best preserved 
are as follows : — ■ 

Here lieth interred y® 

Peke of Hills Court Esq*' 

Edward Peke Esq*" of 

Who had to wife Kather 

D*" William Kingsley A 

Prebend of Canterbur 

Had issue six sons and 

Whereof left S^ Edw 

Damaris & Elizabe 

OctoVAnnl 

The terminations of the lines are quite effaced ; but 
we are able, from what remains, to supply the defi- 
ciency. The stone is in memory of Thomas Peke, of 
Hills Court, in Ash, son of Edward Peke, of Sand- 
wich, who purchased Hills Court from Henry Harfleet 
the younger (vide page 91). By Katharine, daughter 
of Dr. William Kingsley, Archdeacon and Prebend of 
Canterbury, he had six sons, of whom four were 
Edward (afterwards knighted), Thomas, Charles, and 
Peter; and four daughters — Damaris (who married 
Henry Dering of Purington), Susan (wife of Dr. 



232 A COENEH OF KENT. 

Aucher), Elizabeth, and . He died October 8, 

1677, aged 74.* Above the inscription are the arms 
of Peke : Three talbots, impaling a cross engrailed for 
Kingsley. At the head of this stone is another, partly 
illegible, to the memory of Susanna, a sister, we 
presume, of the Thomas just mentioned : — 

Here lyeth buried the 
body of Susanna Peke 
daughter of Edward Peke 
Esq^' who dyed the . . . day of 

October in 

yeare of her 

Ao Dmi 16... t 

Over the inscription are the arms of Peke, as above, 
quartering a chevron between three crescents (Norton 
of Peversham ?). Eastward of these is a stone to 
the memory of Elizabeth, wife of Sir Edward, the 
eldest son of the Thomas Peke above mentioned : — 

Here lyes interr'd the 
body of the virtuous Dame 
Elizabeth Peke relict 
of Sir Edward Peke K* & 
daughter of S'" George 
Wentworth K* brother 
to the most Illustrious 
Thomas late Earl of 

Strafford 
she departed this life 
the 29^^ day of February.^ 

Over the inscription are incised the arms of Peke, 

* This date is given by Cozens in his "Tour in Thanet/' p. 114. 
t "Sasanwah Peke, daughter of Edward Peke, Esq. ; died Oct. 26, 
1633, aged 17." — (Cozens' "Tour in Thanet," ut sujora.) 
% 1691, Cozens' Tour. 



THE CHURCH AND ITS MONUMENTS. 233 

impaling a chevron between three leopard's faces : 
Wentworth. At the foot of this stone is one to her 
elder son Thomas, on which are the arms of Peke 
only, with this inscription : — 

Here lyetli y^ body of Thomas 
Peke of Hills Court in this 
Parish Esq^ eldest son to S'^ 
Edward of y^ same place K* 
who departed this life y*^ 7*^^ 
of August 1:701 in ye 29 yeare 

of his age. 
He married Elizabeth eldest 
daughter to M^" Anthony Ball 
of Bromley in Kent by whome 
he had six children viz. Thomas 
Edward, Ann, Elizabeth, 
Margaret and Sarah. 

To the north of this stone is the following quaint 
acrostic over the resting place of John Brooke, of 
Brooke Street : — 

J OHN Brooke, of the parishe of Ashe 

O nly he is now gone 

H is days are past His corps is layd 

N ow under this marble stone 

B rooke Strete he was the honor o-f 

B ob'd now it is of name 

nly because he had no sede 

O r child to have the same. 

K nowing that all must passe away 

E ven when God will, none can dellay.* 

He passed to God in the yere of grace 

A thousand five hundred fourscore and two it was 

The sixteenth day of January I tell you for playne 

The five and twentyeth yere of Elizabeth raigne. 



* The above ten lines were his own composition, and are contained 
in his will, proved February 7th, 1582, in which he desires to be 



234 A CORNER OF KENT. 

Above it the arms of Brooke : Party per bend 
argent and sable two eagles displayed (connter- 
cbanged). Crest: On a ebapeau an eagle rising. At 
the foot of this stone is one with the inscription 
totally effaced ; above it a shield of arms, the bear- 
ings of which are also completely obliterated; bnt 
the crest is still clearly visible and displays a dexter 
arm embowed, the hand grasping a spiked mace or 
mallet. The arm having been worn perfectly smooth, 
and not the slightest trace of any details distinguish- 
able, it is impossible to say whether it was naked, 
vested, or in armour. The crest of Bathurst, a 
Kentish family, is a mailed arm embowed, the hand 
grasping a spiked club, sometimes drawn as a mace ; 
but the arm is embowed the opposite way to that on 
this gravestone. The crest of a Hampshire family 
named Cresswell resembles it in attitude, but the 
arm is vested in a slashed and puffed sleeve, which 
we do not think could have been the case in this 
instance. The only crest appearing to us as precisely 
corresponding, which we have hitherto met with, was 
granted by Bobert Cooke, Clarenceux, August 5th, 
1590, to Pabian Gimber, of London, gentleman.* No 

buried in the church, of Ash in St. Nicholas chancel, under the north 
window, by Sephams tombe, close by the wall, and that a large marble 
stone be laid over him with the said epitaph therein written verbatim. 
The will is witnessed by Henry Harflete, gent., and Vincent St. 
Nicholas. 

'^ The patent sets forth that he was " The son of William Gimber, 
of London ; the son of William Gimber, of Tennesford ; the son of 
William Gimber, of Doddington, in the county of Huntingdon, 



THE CHURCH AND ITS MONUMENTS. 235 

trace of that name, or of any corruption of it, can be 
found, however, in the registers of this parish ; but 
persons of that name are still living in Kent, and a 
Mr. Gimber is now resident in Sandwich. If it be the 
grave of any member of that family, it is probable 
the person was buried between the years 1641 and 
1653, during which, as we have stated, no entries 
were made. That this stone should have escaped the 
notice of all previous investigators, ancient or modern, 
is very remarkable, as it must originally have formed 
an important feature on the floor of this chancel. 
The arms have been very spiritedly and tastefully 
sculptured, with crest, helmet, and mantlings, speci- 
ally ordered in the grant to be " Gules doubled 
{i. e. lined) silver," in the best style of the sevto- 
teenth century. There being no mention of it in 
the Church Notes taken in 1613, is, we think, con- 
clusive as to its *non-existence at that period. The 
next minute inspection of the church with which we 
are acquainted, appears to have been that of Mr. 
Paussett in 1760, and we can only account for his 



gentleman ;" and having first granted him permission to bear, as his 
ancestors heretofore have borne, these armes hereafter following, to> 
wit : The field saWes on a bend silver, three chevrons gules, cotised 
(cotticed) silver ; he adds, " and for that I find noe creast or cogni- 
zance to the same armes, as to many ancient armes there is none, I 
the said Clarencenx,"&c. &c, . . . "On a wreath silver and sable an armed 
arme in male (mail) proper holding a horseman's weapon called a 
holy- water sprinkell, gould." . . . . " Unto the said Fabian Gimber, 
gentleman, and to his posterity, and to the posterity of William 
Gimber his father." — (Grants, vol. ii. p. 499, Coll. Arms, London.) 



236 A CORNER OP KENT. 

silence respecting it by presuming that, at the 
moment of his visit, it was concealed by some 
temporary construction. There were pews in the 
north-west corner of this chancel, and there may 
have been some at the east end during the last 
century. Previous to the noble gift of Mrs. Godfrey 
in 1819, the girls' school of the Cartwright charity 
was held in this chancel, and some desk, matting or 
wooden flooring may have covered this particular 
spot when Mr. Cozens copied the epitaphs in 1793 ; 
but it must have been exposed to friction for many 
years, or it could not have been worn so exceedingly 
smooth as we now find it. 

To Mr. Paussett we are indebted for the record 
of the following inscriptions, which are now no 
longer legible : — 

Here lies the body of Mr. Thomas Singleton, late of Molland, in 
this Parish, descended from the ancient Family of the Singletons, of 
Broughton Tower, in Lancashire. He was educated in the College 
of Peter House, in Cambridge, where he took his first degree in 
Physick, and afterwards married Mary, daughter of Mr. Abraham 
Dawes, Merchant, of London, who, with one son, John, aged 10 years, 
survived hioi. He died December 7th, A.D. 1710, in the 48th year 
of his age. 

Arms : Two chevrons between three martlets, two 
in chief and one in base. Singleton, impaling three 
mullets, Dawes. 

Here lies interred the body of Mrs. Margaret Masters, the wife 
of Mr. John Masters, second daughter and co-heiress of William 
Wilde, Esq., of Goldstone, in this Parish, who departed this life the 
18th of April, 1758, in the 58th year of her age. 



THE CHURCH AND ITS MONUMENTS. 237 

Mr. Cozens records the following addition: — 

Mr. John Masters, her husband, of Dorchester, died Feb. 5th, 
1761, aged 64 year^^f. 

NORTH TRANSEPT. 

Against the west wall is a mural tablet with the 
following inscription : — 

Keare this Place 

Is interred the body 

of 

Whittingham Wood 'Ei-c^' 

The last pretious Branch of 

The Male line of his Familie who 

Lived 

Exemplarily in y^ service of God & of this 

His Countrie, under y'^ Eminent Teachinge 

of that Grace* Tit. 2. 11. 12. 13. & havinge 

Married 

Elizabeth y^ sole daughter of Thomas S* 

Nicholas of this parish Esq^' December 25. 1655 

Dyed 

In much sweet Peace July 27 1 656. 

In the 42'! yeare of his age 

Psalm 112. 6. 

Y^ Righteous shall be in Everlasting Remembrance. 



On the floor is the gravestone inscribed- 



Dormitorium 

Whittingham Wood. Arm. 

July 27. 1656. 



* Vide page 144, note. 



238 A CORNER OF KENT. 

Against the east wall, in a diamond-sliaped tablet: — 

Christus mihi vita est. Et in morte lucrum. 

ViNCENTius S* Nicolas, al's Sennicalas 
Al's Seniclas, geDerosus obiit certa 
Spe resurgendi 20 die Augusti, 
Anno Domini 1589, Circiter setatis 
Annum 5S. Qui uxorem duxit 
Mariannam filiam Edwardi 
Brockhill* armigeri, quam 
Super stitem cum tribus liberis 
Yid^ Mercia Filia, Thoma et 
Timotheo iiliis ex ipsa procre- 
atis reliquit quibus videntibus 

Deus sit Propitius 
Civitatem Euturam Inquirimus. 

On the floor, accompanied by an escutcheon in 
brass of the arms of St. Nicholas : Ermine, a chief 
quarterly or and gules : — 

A Domino (Samuel) natum petiere parentes 
Excultum innumeris te dedit ille modis 
Rursus abis (Sanctus que) locis coelestibus ardes 
Ac velut Astra tuo lucidus orbe micas 
Vere igitur (Nicolas) coelis agis ipse triumpbos 
Victor et hsec laudis nos monumenta damns. 



Thy parents asked a sonn God gaue them thee 
Soe well adorned w*^ hopeful parts that wee 
Did much admire thy guifts and sobb at this 
Soe rich a Jewell lost so soone wee miss. 
But sure thou wast to bright for us belowe 
Which glisterest now above the starry rowe 
Thy selfe hast gain'd by death (though we have lost) 
Heavens richest tryumphs w*^ the glorious host 
Thy righteous soule in joyes doth rest above 
Under the stone thy corps on it may love. 



* She was the widow of Thomas Harfleet, of Holland, who died 
1559. 



THE CHURCH AND ITS MONUMENTS. 239 

Around the stone is : — 

Samuel, the son of Thomas St. Nicholas, by Eliza his Wife, born 
at Ohatshara Bushes, by Ely, the 18th of August, 1614. Hasted to 

Heaven or his mornfuU by Sandwich, in Kent 

of October, 1624, and is here buried. ^'I know that my redeemer 
liveth." 

A square brass has been taken away from the lower 
part of this stone. 

Beside it, round an escutcheon of arms (St. Nicholas 
quartered with a cross voided, Apulderfield, and im- 
paling a cross between twelve cross-crosslets fitchee, 
Brockhill), this imperfect inscription : — 

YiNCENTi(?) St. Nicholas qui pacem ingressus hie requiescit 

in cubili suo etatis suss 56 (58?) Memorial of 

y- just shall be blessed — wicked shall rott. 

Prov. 10 ver 

This would appear to be the actual gravestone of 
Vincent St. Nicholas, second husband of Marian 
Brockhill, to whom the tablet against the east wall 
of the transept is dedicated ; and a little to the west 
of it are two other gravestones with brasses upon 
them, one of which, within a square border of 
alabaster, is similarly engraved with St. Nicholas 
and Apulderfield quarterly, impaling Brockhill as the 
latter, and the other with a lozenge of alabaster, the 
same coats quarterly, but impaling one which is all 
but entirely obliterated, but from earlier inspections 
would appear to have been the coat of Tilghman.* 

* Party per fess, sable and argent, a lion rampant regardant, coun- 
terchanged, crowned, or. The crown alone being now discernible, 
the charge has been mistaken for a regal personage. 



240 A CORNER OF KENT. 

If SO, it probably indicates the actual resting-place 
of Thomas, son of the aforesaid Vincent and Marian, 
buried at Ash October 30th, 1626, and his first 
wife Dorothea, daughter of William Tilghman, to 
whom we shall find a mural tablet in the nave. 
Immediately beyond these to the west again is a very 
large and much-damaged gravestone, very few words 
of the inscription on which can now be deciphered. 
At the head of it, however,'are the arms of St. Nicholas, 
with a mullet for difference, plainly incised, beneath 
which may yet be read : — 

Thomas St Parish Gent .er of John 

on the 19th in the re of his 

and some other letters here and there more or less 
uncertain. The absenco of dates increases the diffi- 
culty of interpretation ; but Timothy, son of Thomas 
St. Nicholas, by his second wife, Elizabeth Woodward, 
and brother of the Samuel lying vvithin a few feet of 
this spot, was buried here on the 19th May, 1638 ; 
and there are instances of burial on the day of 
decease, or it may be Thomas, son of another 
Thomas and Elizabeth Plumley. The mullet for 
difference rather inclines us to this belief, as it is 
the mark of a third son, which, if he were not the 
eldest of that second family, he must have been, 
Samuel being born in 1614, and Timothy in 1616. 
The arms also being simply those of St. Nicholas, 
without an impalement, would add to our opinion 
that he died unmarried, which Timothv did not : at 
any rate, it would appear as if all the descendants of 



THE CHURCH AND ITS MONUMENTS. 241 

this branch of the family who died at Ash were 
deposited as nearly as possible to one another in this 
spot. There may be some other memorials of this 
family still concealed by the flooring of the pews, 
about to be removed, in this transept. In Peter le 
Neve's Church Notes we read : '* There are in this 
church four monuments of the St. Nicholas's, whose 
wives are here expressed in pale with their hus- 
bands;" and the first mentioned is ''St. Nicholas 
and Engham," which we have been unable to discover. 

SOUTH TRANSEPT. 

Near unto this monument lyes the 
Body of EiCHARD Hougham, Gen* 
Late of Weddington of this Parish 
and Elizabeth his Wife, who was 
the daughter of Edward Saunders 
of Norton nere Sandwich Gen* w^^ 
said Richard & Elizabeth had 
Issue 3 Sonnes and on Daughter (viz*) 
Michael, Edward, Solomon and Ann 
The aforesaid Michael and Ann 

are also interred here. 
This Monument was erected accord- 
ing to the last will and testament 
of the aforesaid Ann Hougham De- 
ceased, who was baptized the 17*^ 
of January Anno Dmii 1601 and De- 
parted this natural life the 9*^ 

of June 16-61. 
If grace and vertue could have deified 
Here is interred a maide who nere had dyd 
Her charity on earth, that put her love 
On Heaven fitt only for the Saints above 
Let theise frayle ashes a memento be 
Her life a pattern and a legacy. 

R 



242 A CORNER OP KENT. 

Above the inscription are the arms of Hougham, 
of "Weddington : Argent five chevronels sable, quar- 
tering Saunders (?) and Brooke, of Brooke Street, Ash. 

On the floor of this transept, under the boarding 
of a pew, is another memorial of this Bichard and 
his family, and of his brother Michael. A brass, on 
which is engraved — 

Here lieth buried the bodies of Michael and Eicha.rd Huffam, 
sonnes of Michael Huffam. Michael died in July, 1594,* & 
E-ichard died October, 1606. Richard married Elizabeth, daughter 
to Mr. Edward Sanders, by whom he had three sonnes, Michaell, 
Edward, and Sollomon, and one Daughter, named Ann, all yet livinge. 
They were men both of a tall stature and comely persons, besides 
were well estemed amonge all sortes of people, both for their 
vertuous lives and also in their younge yeares for there good and 
thriftie government, not of themselves onlie, but also they were a good 
stay in this Parish amonge ther neighboures. 

This stone was laide by the appointment of them w° were exec^ to 
ther wills, viz., Thomas Paramor, now mayor of Canterby, who married 
Ann Huffam, their sister, Mr. Series Hawket, and Yalint Austin, 
their Unckle. 

Immediately adjoining this brass is another, on 
which are engraved the figures of a man and woman 
in the costume of the early part of the 16th century ; 
the man in a long gown with loose sleeves, similar 
to those in which merchants or magistrates are re- 
presented; the woman with the peculiar head-dress 
rendered familiar to the public by the portraits of 
Catharine of Arragon, Anna Boleyn, and, indeed. 



* Buried 12th July, 1596 (Ash Reg.) ; so the date in the brass 
must be an error. 



THE CHURCH AND ITS MONUMENTS. 243 

most of the many wives of Henry VIII. The in- 
scription beneath being — 

Pray for the soulys of Wyllm . . . s & Anys his wyf thy dyed the 
XXIII day of martins in the year of our lord god Mcccccxxv. 

Are we to conclude that they both died on the 
same day ? Of the surname the last letter s only is 
undoubted. They have been read Leus for Lewis ; 
but we can only give an engraving from a rubbing, 
and leave our readers to form their own opinions. 
Annys is one of the most frequent Christian names 
of females that we find in the Baptismal Regis- 
ters of Ash. This burial took place thirty-three 
years before the commencement of the registers, but 
one of the earliest interments recorded is that of an 
''Annys Lewes, July Tth, 1562," not improbably 
a daughter of the William and Annys aforesaid. 
There is no mention of this brass in any of the 
Church Notes of Ash printed or in MS. that we have 
inspected. 

On the west wall of this transept is a mural 
monument — • 

To the memory 

of Mrs. Maky Lowman, 

Daughter of Gregory Butler Gen* of Blackwall 

in the County of Northumberland 

Wife of Henry Lowman of Dortnued in Germany Esq^^ 

She died the 29*^ of September 1737 aged 84.* 



* From their coffin-plates, recently discovered, we learn that Mrs. 
Lowman was "Laundress to King William and King George y® 1^*^ 
& joynt house and Warde Robe Keeper at Kensington, with h^er 

K 2 



244 A CORNER OF KENT. 

Also of her husband Henry Lowman 

of Dortnued in Germany Esq'' 

He died 3^ of February 174|. 

Aged 93. 

And also of Christopher Ernest Kien 

Lieut Colonel of the Horse Guards* 

He died the 29*^ of October, 1744, aged 61. 

and Jane his Wife 

Sole daughter of the above 

Henry & Maiy Lowman 

She died Jan^ 17*^ 1762 aged Sl.f 

Also of Evert George Cousemaker Esq^^ 

who died April the 6'^ 1763 aged 41 
and interred in a Yault near to this place. 

Arms, in a lozenge : or, on a mount vert a naked 
man holding a branch in his hand proper, for Kien ; 
impaling per bend sinister argent and gules a knight 
armed on horseback, holding a tilting spear erect, the 
point downwards (Lowman). 

In this transept there are also two modern white 
marble mural tablets. The first over the gallery 
against the south wall, to the memory of Erancis 
Tomlin, of Goldston, Gentleman (younger son of 

husband to King William, Queen Anne, and King George y^ P* :" 
that she died 29*^ of Novemher (buried December 5, — Ash Keg.), and 
that Henry Lowman, Esq''% " born of a good family at Dortnued, 
in Westphalia," was " Clerk of the Kitchen and house Keeper and 
wardrobe Keeper of the Palace of Kensington, in the reynes of King 
William, Queen Anne, and George y® 1^*^, and his present Majesty, 
King George y^ 2^^." Also that he died in the 91st year of his age. 

* " Lieut. -Colonel of Her Britannic Majesty's third troop of Horse 
Guards." — Coffin-plate. 

t ''Obiit 12^^ of January, 1762, jetatis 78."— Coffin-plate. 



THE CHURCH AND ITS MONUMENTS. 245 

Prancis Tomlin, of Northdown, Thanet, Esquire, and 
Martha, his wife), who died 27th of July, 1751, aged 
56 years ; and of Eichard Motton, of Sandwich, 
Gentleman, who died 26th of May, 1800, aged 81 
years; and of Ann, first wife of the said Prancis 
Tomlin, and afterwards of the said Hichard Motton, 
who died 10th of June, 1801, aged 81 years ; and of 
the following sons of the said Prancis Tomlin and 
Anna his wife : — Thomas Tomlin, of Twitham Hill, in 
this parish. Gentleman, who died 4th of September, 
1784, aged 33 years ; William Tomlin, of Birchington, 
Thanet, Gentleman, who died 11th of April, 1789, 
aged 44 years; and John Tomlin, of The Moat, in 
this parish, who died 19th of Noyember, 1820, aged 
71 years ; and of Mary Tomlin, the wife of the said 
Thomas Tomlin, who died 26th of August, 1781, aged 
30 years ; Susanna Tomlin, wife of the said William 
Tomlin, who died 9th of April, 1830, aged 82 years ; 
and Sarah Tomlin, wife of the said John Tomlin, who 
died 30th of June, 1835, aged 84 years ; and of 
Edward Tomlin, the son of the said William Tomlin 
and Susanna his wife, who died 2nd of August, 1800, 
aged 17 years. The other, oyer the door leading to 
the belfry, commemorates Thomas Minter Tomlin, 
of Twitham Hill, Esquire, who died in 1857 ; and 
the following children by Sarah his wife ; yiz., Sarah 
Tomlin, 1820 ; Thomas Minter Tomlin, 1815 ; Mary 
Belsey Tomlin, 1821 ; Thomas Belsey Tomlin, 1828 ; 
Elizabeth Tomlin, 1837 ; and Jane, wife of T. Collet, 
1845 ; also Sarah Georgina Tomlin, 1853, and Sackct 



24^6 A CORNEH OE KENT. 

Arthur Tomlin, grandchildren of Thomas M. Tomlin 
and Sarah his wife. 

On the floor under the window in this transept is 
a dilapidated gravestone, from which the brasses 
have long disappeared. The outlines of the space 
they occupied indicate a robed figure ; but whether 
of a priest, a magistrate, a merchant, or a female, it 
would be hazardous to assert. 

THE NAVE. 

On the south wall a tablet to the memory of 
Dorothea, first wife of Thomas St. Nicholas, who 
married secondly Elizabeth Woodward : — 

Pise cordatse modestse amabilique Foeminse fidelissimse conjiigi 
dilectissimse que Dorothea]: (filise Gulielmi Tilghman gener : ex 
Susanna filia Thomse Whetenham Armig.), 27 setatis, annum agenti 
Tres filios Tbomam Johannam Vincentiu filias duas que Deboram et 
Dorotlieam chara pignora superstites marito reliquenti 18 die Sep- 
tembris, An° Dom. 1605 (circiter tres horas post partum Yincentii 
predicti) suaviter in Christo obdormienti Thomas S* Nicholas moes- 
tissime viduatus pise memorise gratique animi ergo hoc monumentum 
statuit. 

She was buried in the north transept, where her 
husband was afterwards laid by his express desire. 
We are inclined to think this tablet is not in its 
original position. 

Near this is a tablet to the memory of Lieut. 
Henry Dawson, B;.N., who died of fever at Bombay, 
September 15th, 1839, erected by his widow. 

Another — 



THE CHURCH AND ITS MONUMENTS. 247 

Sacred to the memory of Joseph Westbeech, Esq^", Captain of tbe 
Hoyal Navy, who died in this parish on the 9th of November, 1811, 
aged 53 years. 

Erected by his brother. 
Also one to 

John Fuller, late of Holland, in this Parish, Gen*, died the 10*^ 
of February, 1797, aged 84 years. Elizabeth his wife, daughter of 
Thomas Boteler, of Eastry, Gen*, died the 20th of June, 1785, aged 
77 years. Mary, their daughter, died the 17*^ of October, 1763, 
aged 20 years. Thomas, their son, died the 28*^ of May, 1742, aged 
8 days. Their only surviving daughter Elizabeth, the widow of 
Thomas Godfrey, late of Brooke Street, in this Parish, Esq'^^, from 
affection for the best of parents and for an amiable sister, long and 
sincerely lamented, has consecrated this monument to their memory. 

Arms : Argent, three bars and a canton gules, for 
Puller, impaling argent, three escutcheons azure 
each charged with a covered cup or, for Boteler of 
Eastry. Crest : A talbot's head argent. 

On the north wall is a tablet to the memory of 
Richard Horsman Solly, Esq., of 48, Great Ormond 
Street, London, eldest son of Samuel Solly, Esq., 
of the above place, and Sarah his wife. He died 
March 30th, 1858, and was interred in the Woking 
Cemetery. 

At the west end of the nave, on a mural tablet of 
white marble, in form of a cross, is an inscription 
to the memory of Charles Kobert Streatfield Nixon, 
eldest son of Francis E^nssell, Lord Bishop of 
Tasmania, late perpetual curate of this parish, born 
August 31st, 1837 ; died September 26tb, 1842. 



248 A COENER OF KENT. 

On the floor of tlie nave are the following : — 

Here lieth interr d the body of M''^ Mary Bax, Wife of M^^ John 
Bax, Gen*, who departed this life the 14*^ of June, 1743, aged 58 years. 
Also the body of the above M^' John Bax, Gen<^, who departed this life 
July 11*1^, 1759, aged 77 years. 

Also of Mary Curling, Widow of Tho^ CurliDg, late of Eamsgate, 
Daughter of the above John and Mary Bax, who departed this life 
the 5*^ of July, 1769, aged 58 years. 

Hark from the tombs a doleful sound 
My ears attend the cry. 
Ye living men come view the ground 
Where you must shortly lie. 



Under this marble lieth interred the body of Mary, Wife of 
Major Solomon Ferrier, of the Town and Port of Sandwich. She 
departed this life April 5*^, 1760, aged 41 years. 

Also Ann Roberts, mother of the above said Mary. She died the 
26*^ of April, 1766, aged 77 years. 



Joseph Westbeach, B.N., died 9 Nov., 1811.* 
Also Miss Martha Westbeach, eldest daughter of the above, who 
died 16 September, 1821, aged 21 years. 



M. Elizabeth Bowe, wife of M^ Benjamin Eowe, of Chequer 
Farm, in this Parish, who departed this life 23^ of November, 1811, 
aged 56 years. Benjamin Bowe died 17*^ Dec^', 1820, aged 69 years. 
Mary Bowe died 19*'' June, 1813, aged 70 years. Sarah Quested 
died 7*^ Feb>", 1816, aged 5 months. Jane B. Quested died 7^^ March, 
aged 18 years. 



Sacred to the memory of Mr. John Bushei>l, of this Parish, who 
departed this life the 6*^ day of June, 1831, in the 89*^ year of his 
age. He was born at Minster, in the Isle of Thanet, and many years 
resident at Batting Court, in the Parish of Nunnington. 



* The marble tablet on the south wall of nave commemorates the 
same officer. The flat stone is over the vault. 



THE CHURCH AND ITS MONUMENTS. 249 

UNDER THE TOWER. 

W. B. 

1760 
A Yaulfc. 

In tlie clinrchyard were formerly many tombs of 
the Harfleets and the Aldays;* but they had dis- 
appeared before the end of the last century. The 
memorials at present 1^ existing are principally to 
the families of Ansell, Alexander, Beake, Bushell, 
Claringbold, Cleveland, Chandler, Chapman, Dane, 
Eigar, Priend, Eennell, Gibbs, Godfrey, Holtum, 
Home, Joy, Jull, Kelsey, Kingsford, Laslett, Lad, 
Neame, Petley, Balph, Solly, Smith, Stothard, 
Tomlin, West ; and the only remarkable epitaph that 
of " Bartholomew Joy, of Ware in this parish, who 
died 4th Dec. 1778, aged 71 years," and is described 
as '' a good parent, though afflicted, he trusted in 
God in hope of a more paradiscal situation^ 

* Jolin Aldaye, of Ashe, in his will dated Oct. 19th, 1485, desires 
" to be buried in the Churchyard of Ashe, in the tomb where Joane 
his late wife lies." Kaymond Thomas and John Harflete were also 
buried there on the north side. {Vide p. 180, note.) In Le Neve's 
Notes we read : — " There are in the churchyard some of the Aldies 
buried who did sometime dwell where Sir Thomas Harflete now does, 
and some of the Gibbs now remaining about Elmstone, not far from 
this place, whose arms are as underneath — viz., Argent, three battle- 
axes sable." — (Additional MS. No. 5472.) Sir John Saunders, vicar 
of Ash, desires " to be buried in the churchyard of Ashe, at the 
south side of the west door, afore the grave of his mother" (Will in 
Prerog. Off. Cant. 1509) ; and Ellen Stoughton, widow of Edward 
Stoughton, late of Ash, to be buried in the churchyard of Ash, 
between her late husband Lawrance Omer and her children there. 
(Will proved June 20th, 1575.) 



250 A CORNER OF KENT. 

The following List of Incumbents, though by no 
means perfect, previous to the 16th century, is the 
best we have been able to compile from the sources 
accessible to us : — 

Alanus Capellanus de Ash,* A° 

43rd Edward III 1369 

Dom'. Thomas Monketon Capel- 
lanus,! 4tli Henry Y 1416 

John Middleton 1463 

John Eussell 1493 

John Saunders J 1494—1509 

Thomas Bode § 1519 

William Berimell|l 1550 

William Lynch 1554 

Christopher Meming^ 1558 

John Stybbinge, '' Minister "**... 1593—1615 

* " Cart^ Antique " (Hasted). 

+ Charter of Gilbert de Cheker {alias Septvans). — Philipot, Coll. 
Arms. 

{ "Sir John Saunders, Yicar of Ashe." (Will dated 14th August, 
1509.) 

§ " Syr Thos. Bode, Yicar of Ashe." (Will dated 1st July, 1519.) 

II "Yicar of Ashe." (So named in the will of Dr. Christopher 
Nevynson, of Addisham, dated ]\ larch 15th, 1550.) 

^ Ash Registers, suh anno. As all that follow. 

** He so signs himself in the Register ; but he and all his prede- 
cessors, whose wills are to be found in the Prerogative Office, Can- 
terbury, are styled vicars, after which they are described as curates. 
John Stybbinge was also rector of St. Mary's, Sandwich, and was 
buried in the chancel of Ash Church, according to his desire expressed 
in his will, December 30th, 1615. 



THE CHURCH AND ITS MONUMENTS. 251 

William Brigham 1626 

William Holden 1638 

William Lovelace 1643 

William Brigham 1655 

William Noakes 1659 

James Brenchley 1660 

John Benchkin 1664—1693 

John Shocklidge* 1693—1712 

Obadiah Bom-ne 1712—1721 

Erancis Conduit 1722—1753 

Benjamin Longleyt 1753—1783 

John Lawrence 1783, obiit June 9tli 

Robert Philips 1783—1784 

Nehemiah Nesbitt J 1784—1803 

Charles Baker § 1803—1810 

* Drowned in the Stour. 

+ He was also vicar of Eynsford and of Tongue, co. Kent. Mr. 
Longley's entries go down to Marcli 5th, 1782, after which in one 
book there occurs this notice : — " The E,ev. Mr. Lawrence was 
appointed Curate in the room of Mr. Longley, deceased, but died in 
about two months, and was succeeded by the Rev. Mr. Philips, since 
removed to Beakesbourne." Mr. Longley died February 6th, 1783, 
and was buried at Ash. (Vide p. 217.) Mr. Lawrence, who had also 
been presented by the Lord Chancellor with the rectory of Pambroke 
St. Gabriel, in the county of Lincoln, died June 9th, 1783, and was 
buried at St. Margaret's, Canterbury, in the same grave with his 
father, Dr. Lawrence, physician, who died the day before his son. 

i From March 29th, 1782, to October 5th, 1783, the entries are 
chiefly by " Thomas Yerrier Alkin, Minister." ISTesbitt's handwriting 
begins in October, 1783, but his first actual signature occurs in the 
Banns Book, under the date of June 6th, 1784. 

§ He seldom officiated, and the Rev. J. Smith was his curate 
during the whole period of his incumbency. 



252 A CORNER OE KENT. 

Henry Dimock, A.M 1810—1812 

'* William Wods worth, incumbent 

pro tempore "* 

" Joseph Smith, A.B., was nomi- 
nated to this cure April 6th " t 1812 
Charles James Burton, M.A. % ... 1817—1821 

G. R. Gleig, M.A. § 1821—1834 

Charles Eorster, M.A. || 1834—1838 

Prancis Eussell Mxon, D.D. ^ ... 1838—1842 

Edward Penny, M.A. ** 1842—1849 

George Eidout, M.A.tt 1849—1857 

Henry Smith Mackarness, M.A. ... 1857, present 
incumbent ; late Pellow of King's College, Cambridge ; 
rector of St. Mary the Virgin, in E^omney Marsh, 1853 
to 1857 ; and chaplain to the 24th company of Kent 
Volunteer Biiies. 

Of the chapels of Overland and Fleet (or Pich- 
borough) appertaining to Ash, and given, with the 
parish church, to the college of Wingham, by Arch- 
bishop Peckham, in 1206, there are but few parti- 
culars to mention. That of Pleet must have existed 

* Ash Register. 

t Ibidem. He was afterwards promoted to W^oodnesborough, co. 
Kent ; died May 22nd, 1817 ; and was buried at Ash. {Vide p. 218.) 

% Now vicar of Lydd and chancellor of the diocess of Carlisle. 

§ Now Chaplain- General of the Forces, and rector of Ivy Church, 
Komney Marsh. 

II Now rector of Stisted, co. Essex. 

IF Afterwards bishop of Tasmania. 

** Now rector of Great Mongeham, co. Kent. 

ft Now rector of Sandhurst, co. Kent. 



THE CHURCH AND ITS MONUMENTS. 253 

early in the 12tli century, for, in the seventh of John, 
we find that the presentation to it was in the family 
of Bolbeek, and that Helewisa de Bolbeck, grand- 
mother of Constance de Bolbeck, then the wife of 
Elias de Beauchamp, had previously possessed the 
advowson. — (Abb. of Pleas.) We have noticed the be- 
quests to it of Sir John Saunders, vicar of Ash in 1509, 
at page 58. To the chapel of Overland he bequeathed 
his '' little portys " (breviary) " of fine parchment, 
written with hand, p'ce 40s," and also ''40s. to make 
a window in the east end of the same chapel." In the 
Valor Ecclesiasticus, temp, Henry YIII., A.D. 1540 — 
1545, we find the following entries : — 

All manner of tythes and other pfytes of the 
chapell of Overland xx. 

Por the salary of the iij Prests s'vying the 
cures of the said Chapels of Ashe Over- 
land and Bichborough xvij 

Henry Jones the elder, of Ash, near Sandwich, 
yeoman, in his will, proved 1588, mentions the 
chapel and churchyard of Overland, and the green 
next the churchyard, among other parts of the manor 
then occupied by him. Vincent St. Nicolas was at 
that time the owner of the lease of the parsonage 
of Overland, which he bequeathed to his son Thomas, 
with all the glebe land and appurtenances belonging 
to it. (Will proved Sept. 20, 1589.) No remains 
now exist of either of the chapels. 



254 





Crest of Septvans and Shield of Arms of St. Nicholas. 



CHAPTEE Y. 



NOTES AND QUERIES, GENEALOGICAL AND HERALDIC. 



AT the entrance to these premises we feel the 
necessity of affixing some such notice as is 
usually to be found at the gates of manufactories or 
the doors of private edifices or public works in the 
course of construction, viz., " Nobody admitted 
except on business ; " but as the reader has already 
(we hope) paid for admission, he cannot be so 
unceremoniously excluded. It is only, therefore, 
for U.S to warn him frankly, that unless he have 
special business herein, he will find nothing to 



Plate 13 




-p . r J: 1 g. b . ^"f G^ S-irdiL del et hth., 

Pig.lto 6 rormerlym Asli Ctaircli "Wiudows.-vide p. 189 and postscript 



GENEALOGICAL AND HERALDIC NOTES. 255 

interest or amuse him. We have raked together 
a heap of dry archaeological material out of '* the 
dast of dead ages," presenting to his sight a dreary 
region, in which he will feel no inclination to wander. 
To the antiquary, however, it opens a rich field of 
information as well as inquiry, as our subject has led 
us most unexpectedly into tracks either utterly neg- 
lected by previous explorers, or very superficially and 
imperfectly examined by them. 

Of the great Anglo-Norman families who from 
the time of the Conquest to, at least, the close 
of the 14th century, were most intimately connected 
with the parish of Ash, little is known beyond their 
names, and the armorial ensigns either actually 
borne by, or commonly attributed to them. Al- 
though the stock from which so many noble houses 
have sprung— although those ancient coats are still 
to be seen quartered in so many achievements, 
and studding the roof of Canterbury cathedral — the 
pedigrees of the most important which are presented 
to us in the various published Baronages and 
Peerages, or existing in MS. collections, are so 
imperfect, unconnected, and contradictory, that 
while they cannot be relied upon, even as regards 
the direct male line, they afford us little or no 
information of the collateral branches, and but 
rarely enlighten us on the very important question 
of matrimonial alliances. Of some there are 
actually no pedigrees, either in print or in MSS. 
In illustration of our second chapter, '' The Descent 



256 



A CORNER OF KENT. 



of the Manors," we have drawn up the following 
genealogical notices, and propose to examine the 
evidence on which they are founded in chronolo- 
gical order. We will therefore commence with the 
family of 

D'arqtjes, 

latinized De Arcis, and in English, Arches, Avhich is 
the earliest one we find holding land in this parish. 
"William de Arcis, as we have stated in our second 
chapter (p. 39), is recorded in Domesday as holding 
one suling of land in Pleet. This William de Arcis is 
supposed to he the same personage as William, the 
son of Godfrey, who in the same valuable record is 
stated to hold Folkestone and various other property 
in Kent, and specially three houses in Dover, one of 
which was the Gihalla or Gishalla of the burgesses. 
All that is known of him with any certainty is, 
first, that in the lifetime of the Conqueror he 
claimed certain lands which had belonged to 
Gozelin, Yicomte d'Arques (a bourg and vicomte 
of the Pays de Caux, in Normandy), of whom he 
assumed to be the grandson. The late Mr. Stapleton 
on this remarks, that '' Gozelin was his grandfather 
by his mother's side ; for Osborne de Bolbec .... 
is reported to have been his paternal grandfather." 
We presume the report alluded to is that of Guil- 
laume de Jumiege, who states as much in his 8th 
book, cap. 37. The learned authors of '' Eecherches 
sur le Domesday " differ from Mr. Stapleton and his 
apparent authority. They assert that he was the 



GENEALOGICAL AND HERALDIC NOTES. 257 

son of an Osborne de Arcis, m4io was the son of 
William, the son of Gozelin, Viscomte d'Arques, tlms 
making our William the ^r^^^f- grandson of Gozelin, 
and rejecting his descent from Bolbec. But, if 
their story be true, he could not be the Lord of 
Folkestone we find in Domesday, because he is 
therein distinctly described as '* Willielmus filius 
Goidfride,^^ and not of Osborne, as they make him. 
Here we find ourselves between Scylla and Charybdis 
at starting, with only one fact to depend upon, — that 
he was the grandson, by his own account, of Gozelin 
the Viscomte. The second fact concerning him is, 
that he had a wife named Beatrix, who survived 
him, and had in dower the manors of Newington 
near Hythe, and Eedingfiekl.^' Of her parentage 
we at present know nothing ; but the mother of 
William de Arcis, who is said to have been a 
daughter of Gozelin the Viscomte, is also called 
Beatrix ; and until clearer evidence is discovered, we 
are inclined to believe in a theory Mdiich would 
reconcile the above contradictions. We believe 
William de Arcis to be the son of a Godfrey or 
Geoffrey Mtz Gozelin or Joceline, an elder son of 
Gozelin, Viscomte d'Arques, in that case his paternal 
grandfather ; and we think it highly probable that 
Beatrix, the daughter of Gozelin, married, as it is 
stated, Geoffrey de Bolbec, by whom she had a 

* She gave to the cliurch of LoDlay a moiety of tlthes^of Ne wing- 
ton, CO. Kent. 

S 



258 A COENEE OF KENT. 

daughter, named after herself Beatrice, wlio became 
the wife of her first cousin William de Arcis. 

We are sustained in this view of the case by the 
fact that there were other male members of the 
family of De Arcis existing at this period, A 
William and a Hugh de Arcis, said by the authors 
of the '' Eecherches " to have been brothers of 
Beatrix d'Arques, the wife of Geoffrey de Bolbec, 
from the eldest of whom they consequently derive 
the Lord of Eolkestone, as we have already men- 
tioned.* But though we consider them to be 
mistaken on the latter point, there is evidence of the 
existence of an Osbert and his son a William de Arcis, 
the latter of whom had a daughter and heiress named 
Ivetta, who married Adam Bruce, of Skelton, and 
after his death in 1180 became the wife of Bichard 
de Mamville.t That they were the son and grandson 
of another William de Arcis, brother of Beatrix, we 
will not dispute : all we contend for is, that they had 
an elder brother, Geoffrey Eitz Jocelin, who was the 
father of our William PitzGeofFrey, Lord of Folke- 
stone, or othervase they must have carried off the 
representation. Another line of this family seems 
to have terminated in the person of Jana, the 

*' There was a Hugo, son of William, holdiDg a large portion of tlie 
land in tins manor, and wlio is first mentioned after William de 
Arcis. This Hugo must surely have been his son, and if by Beatrice 
de Bolbec, must have died without issue in his father's lifetime, as his 
sisters were undoubtedly co-heirs of William. 

t Vincent in B. 2, Coll. Arms, makes Flamville her first husband 
— at all events, she survived hoth.-^-Vide Mon. Ang. vol. ii. p. 43. 



GENEALOGICAL AND HERALDIC NOTES. 259 

daugliter and heiress of a Eichard de Arclies, and 
the wife of Sir John Dinham, by whom she had a 
daughter Isabella, who married, first, Pulke Pitz- 
warin ; and secondly. Sir John Sapcote."* The coat 
attributed to the family of Arches, and which must 
have been invented for them in the 12th or 13tli 
century, is gules, three arches argent, which is 
brought in by Dinham, and sometimes seen quar- 
terly with it in the achievements of several of our 
nobility and gentry.! 

William de Arcis is supposed by our English 
genealogists to have died about the latter end of the 
reign of Eufus ; but the authors of the ^^Recherches" 
assert that he took the habit of a monk in 1088, 
and died, circa 1090, Abbot of St. Severs at llouen. 
Be this as it may, it is certain that he left by his 
Vvddow Eeatrice two daughters : Matilda, who 
married William the Chamberlain de Tancarville, 
who inherited the Norman possessions of her father ; 

* Amongst other members of tbis family may be mentioned 
Radulpli and Robert de Arcbes. — (Mon. Ang. voL i. pp. 330 — 773.) 
Herbert de Arcbes and 'William, " fil. suus," witnesses to a charter of 
Julianna, daughter of Alexander de Alreton, and wife of Richard, 
son of Hugo, to Kirkdale Abbey. — (Whitaker's History of Leeds, 
vol. i. p. 126.) Also Peter de Arches, who held half a knight's fee in 
Potter JSTewton, co.York, of the Earl of Lincolu. — (Ibid. vol. ii. p. 120.) 
An Agnes de Archis was wife of Herbert de St. Quintin, and founded 
the nunnery of Chillinge or Nun-Kelling, co. York, in 1152. — Mon. 
Ang. vol. i. 

t As that of Richard de Arches, it is given in a Roll of Arms, of 
the time of Edward I. or IT., a copy of v/hich is in Vincent, 16-5, 
p. 63, Coll. Arms. 

s 2 



260 A CORNER OF KENT. 

and Emma, the heiress of Eolkestone, ^Yho married, 
first, Nigel de Muneville, or Monyille, and secondly, 
Manasses, soDietimes called Eobert, Count de Guisnes, 
to the latter of whom she ultimately brought the 
lands which had been settled on her mother in dower 
at Newington and Redingfield. In conjunction with 
her first husband Nigel she founded the Priory of 
Polkestone in 1095. By him she had a daughter 
named Matilda, who carried the lordship of Polkestone 
and the land atEleet into the great family of Avranches. 
By her second husband she had also an only child, 
named Bosa or Sybilla, of whom we shall say more 
under the head of De Yere. We must preyiously, 
however, follow the issue of the elder daughter and 
eo-heiress Matilda to the termination of the direct 
male line of 

AVRANCHES. 

Contemporary with the Conqueror we find a Wil- 
liam d' Avranches who was, according to Ordericus 
Vitalis, the son of Guitmond, Witmund, or Wymond, 
and cousin {i. e. blood relation) to Bichard, surnamed 
Goz, father of Hugh d'Avranches, the famous Earl 
of Chester. The exact degree of relationship has 
yet to be proved ; but it is no part of our present 
inquiry, and we shall not, therefore, encumber 
ourselves and our readers with more questions than 
are absolutely necessary. William d'Avranches is not 
named in Domesday, but he ajopears to have been 
one of eight knights intrusted by John de Eiennes 
with the wardship of Dover Castle. There is some 



GENEALOGICAL AND HERALDIC NOTES, 261 

reason to believe that his wife was Emma,^ a daughter 
of Baldwin de Brionnej Viscomte or Sheriff of 
Devonshire ; but whoever might be his wife, by 
her he had a son, named Rualo or E/uallon,t to whom 
Henry I. gave in marriage Matilda, the only child 
of Nigel de Muneville by his wife Emma d'Arqnes, 
and heiress of Folkestone.! 

Eualo was Sheriff of Kent in 1131, and died be- 
fore 1147, leaving by Matilda a son named William, 
and a daughter, a nun at Elstow.§ Not even the 
Christian name of the wife of the second William 
d' Avranches has yet been discovered ; but it is clear 
that he had issue at least three sons : Simon, Eualo, 
and Geoffrey. William died in or before 1190, and 
was succeeded by Simon, who confirmed to the monks 
of St. Andrew of Northampton the grants of Wil« 
liam his father and Matilda his grandmother. 
This clearly proves that he was the son, and not 

* According to others, Alicia. She was the widow of William. 
Avenelj by whom she had Ralph Avenel, Baron of Okehampton, 
who married Matilda, daughter of Baldwin de Bedvers, Earl of 
Devon. 

+ And another, supposed to be the elder, named Bobert, the 
adopted heir of his uncle, Bichard de Brionne, and who recovered 
from his half-brother Balph Avenel the barony of Okehampton. 

X She survived her husband, and gave to the church of St. Andrew, 
Northampton^ for the good of lier soul, the souls of her father, her 
husband, and her sons, the manor of Sywell, in the county of North- 
ampton. This gift was confirmed by her son William in 1147. — 
Mon. Aug. vol. i. p. 680. 

§ With whom she gave to the priory there i\ virgates of land in 
Sywell. — Mon. Ang. ut sujyra. 



262 A CORNER OF KENT. 

hrotlier, and lieir of William, as set down in some 
pedigrees. 

In 1190 (2nd Kicliard I.) he was in account with 
the Exchequer touching certain ships going to the 
Holy Land; and in 1194 (6th Richard I.) paid 
£4. 15s. towards the king's ransom.* In 1197 (8th 
Eichard I.) we find his brother Eualo (or Euellinus 
as he is called in the record) party to the final concord 
with Elias de Beauchamp which afforded us so much 
information respecting Eichborough in the 12th cen- 
tury ; and in 1209, as we have already stated (page 42, 
note), Simon had a dispute with Baldwin, Count de 
Gruisnes, respecting some lands in Newington, near 
Hythe, which we have seen formed part of the dower 
of Beatrice d' Arques. Simon d'Avranches married a 
lady named Cecilia, said by Segar (MS. Baronagium, 
Coll. Arms) to have been one of the family of Criol, 
or Keriel, another of those great Kentish houses of 
which we hear so much and know so little. The 
date of his death is uncertain, but it occurred in or 
before the 16th of John, 1214, when his son and heir 
William had a charter for a fair at Folkestone. 
Besides William (third of that name), who succeeded 
him, he had issue by the same wife three other sons : 
Geoffrey, Simon, and Boger. Cecilia survived her 
husband, and in 1215 sold her manor of Sutton, in 
Sussex, to the monks of Bobertsbridge, to raise money 
to ransom her son William, who had been taken 
prisoner by the king's forces. 

* Eot. Pip. sub ann. 



GENEALOaiCAL AND HERALDIC NOTES. 263 

William confirmed the grants of lands in I^^ortlieye 
which his mother Cecilia, then living, had made to 
Edmund, son of "William Goding.^ He claimed 
the manor of Avranches against Hugh Bigot, Earl 
of Norfolk, ninth of Henry III. (1224), \Yas constable 
of Dover Castle tenth of Henry III. (1225), and 
deceased before the fifteenth of Henry III. (1230). 
He married Maud, daughter and co-heir of William 
de Bocland, by Maud, daughter and co-heir of Wil- 
liam de Say. She was also sister and heir of 
Hawisia de Bocland, wife of John de Bovil, and 
succeeded to her lands in 1226. Looking at this 
descent, there can be little doubt that the possessions 
of the family of Avranches must have been largely 
increased by this marriage, the issue of which was 
a son and daughter. The son, William, was a 
minor in. 1230, when Hubert de Burgh paid 50 
marks for his custody and marriage, and still under 
age in 1233, when the Bishop of Exeter paid 2,000 
marks to have his custody, intending to marry him 
to a daughter of Bichard de Chilham and Boesia de 
Dover. Eventually, however, he is said to have 
married Mabel, daughter of Nicholas de Sandwich,t 
but deceased without issue before 1236, when his 

* MS. Coll. Arm. Yincent, 88, p. 72. Geoffrey and Simon witnessed 
this grant of their brother "^Villiam. Sir E,oger, the fourth sod, 
is said to have been the progenitor of the family of Everinge, co. 
Kent. The drawing of the seal of William in the above MS., repre- 
sents him on horseback, with the shield chevronny; the obverse 
displaying a kite-shape shield, with the same arms. 

t MS. Pedigree William Courthope, Esq. Somerset Herald. 



264 A CORNER OE KENT. 

sister Matilda or Maud became heiress of the whole 
barony of Folkestone. 

This great heiress became the second wife of 
Hamo, son of Eobert de Crevecoeur, who did homage 
for her lands twentieth of Henry III. (1236), when, 
according to the presumed date of her mother's 
marriage, she could not have been more than 
fifteen. Prom her birth she appears to have been 
the ward of Peter de Maulay, out of whose custody 
her father received her in the first or second year of 
her age.'^ 

Of the Crevecoeurs we shall speak anon ; but 
we must now return to the collateral descent from 
Emma d'Arques the first lady of Eolkestone, who, as 
we have already stated, married, secondly, Manasses, 
Comte de Guisnes, and show the connection of this 
branch with the families of 

YEEE AND BOLBEC. 

The only issue of the marriage of Emma d'Arques 
with the Comte de Guisnes appears to have been a 
daughter, known like her father by two different 
names, Posa and Sibilla. She married Henri Cas- 
tellan de Bourbourg, by whom she had an only child, 
a daughter, named Beatrice. Eosa died in her father's 
lifetime, and her mother Emma, Comtesse de Guisnes, 
being an English woman, advised the selection of 
an English husband for the young heiress. The 

* Clo£e Eolls, 5lh of Henry III. mem. 12. 



GENEALOaiCAL AND HERALDIC NOTES. 265 

choice fell on Alb eric, the son of Alberic or Aubrey 
de Vere, the king's chamberlain. The marriage is 
said to have been hastened in consequence of the 
precarious state of the health of Beatrice, and as in 
case of her death without issue the comte of Guisnes 
would revert to the next heir, Arnold de Gand. On 
the death of Manasses in 1137, Alberic de Vere was 
requested by his father-in-law Henri de Bourbourg, 
to hasten and take possession of the county of 
Guisnes. He complied with the request, and was 
invested by the Comte de Planders, his suzerain; 
but, preferring a residence at the English court, he 
neglected his matrimonial domains and, sooth to say, 
his wife, till at length afiPairs culminated in a revolu- 
tion and a divorce ; Baldwin of Ardres marrying the 
Countess Beatrice, who survived, however, but a 
few days, and dying without issue by either of her 
husbands, Arnold de Gand succeeded as next heir to 
the county of Guisnes. This little history, which we 
have condensed- as much as possible from Mr. Staple- 
ton's elaborate essay, is necessary to the clear under- 
standing of the position of Aubrey de Vere the 
younger, who was thus styled Count or Earl before 
he was Earl of Oxford. His father, the king's 
chamberlain, was killed in London during a riot in 
the year 1140, and left by his wife Alicia, beside 
Alberic of whom we have been speaking, several sons 
and two daughters : Bohesia, married first to Geoffrey 
de Mandeville, Earl of Essex, and secondly to Pagan de 
Beauchamp ; and Juliana, married first to Hugh 



266 A COENER OE KENT. 

Eigod, Earl of Norfolk, and secondly to Walkeline de 
Mamignot. Alberic having become one of the most 
active partisans of the Empress Matilda against 
King Stephen, had a grant from her in the year 1141 
of all the land of William d'Avranches together 
with all the inheritance he claimed on the part of 
his wife as the heiress of William d'Arques,* and the 
promise of the town and castle of Colchester, as 
soon as they should be in her power, also the 
reversion of the earldom of Cambridgeshire and the 
third penny thereof, as an earl ought to have, 
provided the King of Scots had it not ; but in that 
case Alberic was to have the choice of four earldoms, 
— Oxfordshire, Berkshire, Wiltshire, and .Dorsetshire, 
— according to the decision of her brother, the Earl 
of Gloucester, Earl Geoffrey (of Essex), and Earl 
Gilbert (of Pembroke). His brothers Geoffrey and 
E;obert were also made barons, and his brother 
William was promised the Chancellorship of 
England. 

King Henry XL, on his accession to the throne, in 
1135, made the famous Thomas a Becket chancellor, 
but performed that part of his mother's promise 
which related to an earldom for Alberic, and gave 
him that of Oxford. t Alberic enjoyed his honour 

* This was the land at IS^ewington and Kedingfield which we 
have seen her grandmother Emma brought to her second husband, 
Manasses de Guisnes. 

+ William, in lieu of the chancellorship, had the bishopric of 
Hereford. 



GENEALOaiCAL AND HERALDIC NOTES. 267 

for nearly forty years, dying 26tli December, 1194, 
and was succeeded by his son of the same name, who 
in the sixth of John, A.D. 1205, paid fine to the 
king of 100 marks to be confirmed in his earldom 
and in the receipt of the third penny. Dying with- 
out issue male in 1214, his next brother, Hobert, 
succeeded as third Earl of Oxford. All this is per- 
fectly clear and indisputable, and consequently those 
genealogists who are content with recording the 
descent of the earldom have no difficulties to contend 
with. But that does not satisfy us. We desire to 
know who were the wives, and especially the mothers, 
of these earls ; and on referring to the existing cata- 
logues or pedigrees for such information, we are 
astounded at the mass of confusion and contradiction 
they exhibit."^ 

In order to arrive at something like the facts, we 
must retrace our steps. Alberic de Vere, the king's 
Chamberlain, slain in 1140, and father of Alberic, 
first Earl of Oxford, was himself the son of an 
Alberic de Vere, founder of Colne Abbey, county 
of Essex. We have, therefore, including Alberic, 
the second Earl of Oxford, four Alberics de Vere in 
immediate succession. Dugdale would make it 
five, by commencing with the " Albericus Comes " of 
Domesday ; but it is now generally conceded that he 

* Mr. J. Gougli Nichols, in his paper on the Earldom of Oxford 
(Journal of the Archseological Institute, vol. ix. p. 17), to which we 
naturally turned for information, has not touched upon the points in 
question. 



268 A COENEll OP KENT. 

was not of this family; the earliest of whom at 
present identified is the Albericus de Vere of the 
same record, founder of Colne Abbey, as above 
stated, and father of the king's chamberlain. 

This Alberic the first, it appears, from a confirma- 
tion charter of Henry I. * and also by a charter of 
Geofi'rey de Vere, the eldest son of Alberic and who 
died in his father's lifetime, had for wife a lady 
named Beatrix, by some called a sister of William 
the Conqueror, and by Dugdale confounded with 
Beatrix de Bourbourgh, who married this Alberic's 
grandson. All we can really rely upon is that her 
name was Beatrix and that she was the mother of 
Godfrey de Yere, the eldest son, as acknowledged by 
him. It is, however, probable, that she was also 
the mother of his brothers Alberic, William, Bobert, 
and Eoger. 

Alberic the second certainly married a lady named 
Adeliza or Alicia, stated in the Book of the Miracles 
of St. Osyth to have been the daughter of Gilbert 
de Clare. Kennet asserts that she was the daughter 
of Boger de Ivray, and brought her husband the 
manor of Islip, in Oxfordshire ; and Sandford, in his 
Genealogical History, marries him to Mabel, a 
daughter of Bobert, Consul of Gloucester ; but we 
prefer the authority of the "Libri de Miraculis St. 
Osythse," which is attributed to the pen of one of 

* Henry I. confirmed the gift of Alberic de Yere of twenty acres 
of land to St. Mary of Abbingdon for the soul of Godfrey, his sod, 
deceased. 



GENEALOaiCAL AND HEEALDIC NOTES. 269 

the sons of Alberic by this yery Adeliza, a priest at 
St. Osyth's, and brother of William de Vere, Bishop 
of Hereford.* A curious corroboration of his state- 
ment is to be found in the life of Giraldus Cam- 
brensis, which is more valuable as it occurs inci- 
dentally and without reference to any disputed point 
of genealogy. We give it in the words of the 
biographer : — 

'^It happened about this time that by an order 
from the king, Ehys ap GrufFydh was summoned to 
hold a conference with Baldwin, Archbishop of Can- 
terbury, and E^anulf de Glanville, chief justice of 
England, at Hereford. When seated at dinner in the 
house of William de Vere, bishop of that see, and 
Walter, a noble baron, both of whom were descended 
from the noble family of Clare, Giraldus, the arch- 
deacon, approached the table, and standing before 
them, thus facetiously addressed himself to Prince 
Rhys : * You may congratulate yourself, Bhys, on 
being now seated between two of the Clare family, 
whose inheritance you possess ! ' for at that time he 
held all Cardiganshire, which he had recovered from 
Roger, Earl of Clare. Rhys, a man of excellent 
understanding, and particularly ready at an answer, 
immediately replied: 'It is indeed true that for a 
considerable time we were deprived of our inheri- 

* It appears she gave to tlie monks of St. Osyth lands of the value 
of seven pounds per annum, lying at Dalham, Frustall, and Dinham, 
being part of her portion in frank marriage, and which Alberic, her 
son, confirmed. 



270 A COENEE, OE KENT. 

tance by the Clares; but as it was our fate to be 
losers, we had at least the satisfaction of being dis- 
possessed of it by noble and illustrious personages, 
not by the hands of an idle and obscure people.' The 
bishop, desirous of returning the compliment to 
Prince Rhys, replied : ' And we also, since it has been 
decreed that we should lose the possession of those 
territories, are well pleased that so noble and 
upright a prince as Uhys should be at this time 
lord over them.' " * 

It would need strong evidence to rebut the con- 
temporaneous evidence of two such witnesses as the 
priest of St. Osyth, the son of Adeliza, and Giraldus 
de Earri, the acquaintance of her other son, the 
Bishop of Hereford, in whose cathedral he was a 
prebend. 

Ey the Book of St. Osyth we find also that the 
issue of Alberic by Adeliza was five sons. Alberic, 
the first Earl of Oxford ; William, Bishop of Here- 
ford; Gilbert, Lord of Bayham, county of Essex; 
Geofirey, who married Isabel de Say ; and the afore- 
said priest of St. Osyth. Their daughters were 
Bohesia, Countess of Essex ; Julianna, Countess of 
Norfolk, before mentioned ; and Adeliza, wife of 
Henry de Essex, and subsequently of Boger Eitz 
Bichard, Lord of Warkworth. 

We now come to the third Alberic, who, as we have 
shown, was, during his father's lifetime^ undoubtedly 

^ Itinerary, vol. i. p. 23. 



GENEALOGICAL AND HERALDIC NOTES. 271 

married to Beatrix de Bourbourgh, Countess de 
Guisnes, from whom he was divorced, and by whom 
he had no issue. As this fact has only been elicited 
through the labours of the late Mr. Stapleton (Dug- 
dale, and previous writers, having confounded her 
with her husband's grandmother of the same name), 
she is not to be found, of course, in any of the older 
pedigrees in this her proper place ; but to make up 
for the omission, three other wives have been accorded 
to him— Lucia, Euphemia, and Agnes. The first, on 
the authority of Leland, and supposed by Segar to 
have been a daughter of William de Arches by a 
daughter of William de Avranches, we may dismiss 
in a few words. 

She w^as the first prioress, and perhaps founder of 
a nunnery in the parish of Castle Heningham ; but 
whoever she might be, there is not the slightest 
evidence that she was ever the wife of Alberic ; and 
Weever, who prints the lament of the prioress, her 
successor, for her loss, only suggests that, '' belike 
she was one of that honourable house," i.e., a De 
Vere.* The next, Euphemia, is said to have been the 
daughter of Sir William de Cantelupe. Of this we 
have no proof; but her charter to Colne Abbey is 
conclusive as to her being the wife of Alberic. In it, 
as the Countess Euphemia, she gives to the monks of 
Colne, with the consent of her husband, the Earl 
Alberic, 100 shillings from her manor of Icklington, 

'"- Fan. Mon. p. 621. 



272 A COENEE OF KENT. 

for the health of the body and soul of Stephen, King 
of England, and for the soul of his queen Matilda, 
and the soul of Earl Eustace, their son, which manor 
of Icklington, she states, M^as given her by the said 
king and queen in frank marriage. This charter is 
witnessed by Earl Albert himself and his brother, 
Gilbert de Vere.^ This is very important, as 
although the document is not dated, there can be 
little doubt about the period in which it was executed. 
The particular mention of the hodij of Stephen shows 
that the king was at that time living, his queen, 
Matilda, and his son Eustace being dead, therefore 
not earlier than 1152 ; and the fact of the manor of 
Ikclington having been given to her by Stephen and 
Matilda as a marriage portion proves that Alberic 
must have been in favour with that monarch and his 



* Ego Eufemia Comitissa concessu comitis Alberici mariti mei dedi 
monachis de Colne redditione C s. in Iclintonia cum corpore meo 
sepeliendo pro salute corporis et animse Stephani Eegis Anglise et pro 
anima Matildis Reginae et pro anima Comitis Eustachie filii eorum, &c. 
. . . . sicut Kex Stephannis et Matildis Kegina uxor sua qui 
prsenominatum manerium de Iclintonia mihi dederunt in libero 
maritagio, &c. Witnessed by " Comite Alberico et Gilberto de 
Yeer." — (Dugdale, Mon., vol. ii. p. 877.) Alberic afterwards founded 
a nunnery at Icklington, in the diocese of Ely. The Empress also 
granted to Alberic, Diham (Dinham), " which belonged to Robert de 
Ramis and was the right of the nejohews of this earl ; viz. the sons of 
Roger de Ramis.'' — (Dugdale's Baronage.) As Alberic had no sister 
married to Roger de Ramis, it would seem as if the earl had married 
Roger's sister. The family of De Ramis, Raimes, or Raines, is always 
alluded to as of great importance, and has never yet been thoroughly 
investigated. 



aENEALOGICAL AND HERALDIC NOTES. 273 

queen at the time that marriage took place, which, 
as he was diyorced from Beatrix about 1143-4, and 
the queen died in 1151, could have been only a few 
years after his zealous partisanship of the Empress 
Matilda and her son Prince Henry. Another re- 
markable circumstance is, that in the charter above 
mentioned Alberic and Euphemia style themselves 
Earl (or Count) and Countess, although he had 
ceased to be Count de Guisnes when he was divorced 
from the Countess Beatrix (who carried the county 
and title to her second husband, Baldwin de Ardres), 
and was not made Earl of Oxford till 1155, first of 
Henry II. This appears to sustain the opinion that 
he was by descent Comte de Vere, as we find him 
indeed called by Giraldus Cambrensis ; but the royal 
gift of the manor of Icklington and the favour of 
Stephen and his queen have still to be accounted 
for, and we are therefore induced to believe that 
Euphemia was not simply the daughter of Sir 
William de Cantelupe, but, like her predecessor 
Beatrix, a countess in her own right, and probably 
a relation or connection of either Stephen or Matilda, 
who must assuredly have had some strong reason for 
thus sanctioning the marriage and endowing the 
bride of one of their chief opponents. 

Whether Euphemia lived to be Countess of 
Oxford we are at present without means of deciding ; 
but the book of Colne Abbey gives Alberic a third 
wife, named Agnes, and, according to Giraldus 
Cambrensis, he was married before 1163 to a 

T 



274 A CORNEE OP KENT. 

daughter of Henry de Essex, from whom he was 
striving to be divorced, on account of the disgrace of 
her father, at the time that she w^as pregnant with his 
eldest son Alberic, the fourth of that name, who 
succeeded him as second Earl of Oxford.* But he 



* Itin. cap. vii. He does not mention her Christian name, but, in 
speaking of natural defects inherited by children from their parents, 
he says, " A like miracle of nature occurred in Alberic, son of Alberic, 
Earl of Vere, whose father, during the pregnancy of his mother, the 
daughter of Henry of Essex ('filia scilicet Henrici de Essexia'), 
having laboured to procure a divorce on account of the ignominy of 
her father, the child, when born, had the same blemish in its eye as 
the father had got from a casual hurt." Sir Eichard Colt Hoare, in 
his annotations on this chapter, vol. ii. p. 132, considers this to be 
a biographical error, as he found by the pedigrees of the Vere and 
Essex families that " Henry de Essex m^arried a daughter of the 
second Alberic de Yere." We have stated, on the authority of the 
work of St. Osyth, that he did marry a daughter of the second 
Alberic, who was of course sister of the third ; and we have here the 
circumstantial statement of an actual contemporary, who, being born 
in 1146, was seventeen years of age when Henry de Essex was 
defeated by Robert de Montforfc in the famous trial by battle in 
1163, and thereby adjudged guilty of the cowardly and treasonable 
offence of throwing down the royal standard, of which he was the 
hereditary bearer, and flying from the field during the conflict between 
the king's forces and those of Owen Gwyneth, Prince of Powys, in 
1157. Henry II. spared his life, but ordered him to be shorn a 
monk and retire into the Abbey of Reading. These remarkable events 
are just such as would be likely to make a powerful impression on the 
mind of a youth of the age of Giraldus, and who was subsequently the 
friend and companion of Henry II. and of William de Yere, Bishop 
of Hereford, the brother of that very Earl Alberic, with whom and 
with his countess indeed it is very probable he was also acquainted ; 
as, by his own account, this Itinerary was written in 1190, which 
would be four years previous to the death of the earl, who seems to 



GENEALOGICAL AND HERALDIC NOTES. 275 

had also issue Eobert, afterwards third earl, and 
Henry, from whom the De Veres of Addington are 
said to be descended ; and as Giraldns does not 
inform us whether or not he succeeded in obtaining 
the divorce, we are left in doubt as to their being 
children of the same mother. 

Unfortunately, in none of the charters of his sons 
and successors that wo have yet met with is there 
any mention of their mother, nor do we know whe- 
ther or not she survived her husband, w^ho died 26th 
December, 1194; but the presumption is, that she 
did not. 

The fourth Alberic de Vere, and second Earl of 
Oxford, is said to have married Adeliza, daughter of 
Eoger Bigod, and died without issue 1214 ; but now 
comes the hardest knot in this exceedingly entangled 
skein. 

Robert de Yere succeeded his brother Alberic, and 
was at that time the husband of Isabella de Bolbec. 
Of these two facts the proofs are manifold. The 
Pipe-roll of the second of Eichard I., 1191, records 
that Earl Alberic rendered an account of 500 marks 
to have the daughter of Walter de Bolebec for a wife 



have married his first cousin, unless she were the daughter of Henry 
de Essex by a former wife. The facts and dates we have cited give 
us the following result : — 



Beatrice, = 


Alberic de Vere, 


= EuPblEMlA, =: 


Agnes, 


1st wife, 


1st Earl of Oxford, 


2nd wife. 


3rd wife. 


divorced 1143. 


died 1194. 


married before 


married before 






1151. 


1163. 



T 2 



276 A CORNER OF KENT. 

to his son, not named.* It would seem that the mar- 
riage did not take place previous to the earl's death 
in 1194, for in the Pipe-roll of the ninth of John, 
1208, it is stated that Robert de Vere gave 200 marks 
and three palfreys, to have Y(sabella) de Bolbec to 
wife, provided she consented ; and in which case he 
would pay the fine which she the said Y. had agreed 
to pay the king, not to be compelled to marry by the 
plea of Earl Alberic.f On the death of Eobert, Earl 
of Oxford, fifth of Henry III., 1221, his widow, 
Isabella, paid a fine to the king of £2,228 2s. 9^d., 
for the wardship of her son, then about six years old, 
after which she married Henry de Novant, and was 
deceased in 1245, when Hugh de Yere, who had 
succeeded his father as fourth Earl of Oxford, on 
attaining his majority in 1236, had livery of his 
mother's estates ; as in the Pine roll of the twenty- 
ninth of Henry III. we read, '' The king received 
the homage of Hugh, Earl of Oxford, son and heir 
of Isabella de Bolbeck, late Countess of Oxford." J 
Now in the face of this evidence we have to account 
for the existence of two charters, in both of which 

* " Comes Alberici reJdit coraputnm de D marcis pro habenda filia 
Walter! de Bolbeck ad opus filii sui."— (Mag. Rot. Pip. A^ 2nd Eic. I.) 

t '•' Kobertiis de Yer CC marcas et iij palefridos pro habenda in 
uxorem Y de Bolbec si ipsa voluerit ita quod si cum duxerit in 
uxorem ipse reddit finem quern ipsa Y fecit ne distriogatur ad 
maritandum per placitam comitis Alberici." — (Mag. Rot. Pip. A'' 9 
John.) 

% " Rex cepit homagium Hugo. co. Oxon. filii et hered. Isabella de 
Bolbeck quondam Comitissa Oxon."— (Ptot. Fin. A° 29 Hen. III.) 



GENEALOGICAL AND HERALDIC NOTES. 277 

Isabella, the daughter of Walter de Bolbec, is dis- 
tinctly averred to be the wife of Alberic de Yere, 
who is in one specified as the son of Earl Alberic. 
The first is in the cartulary of Nottley Abbey, and is 
a confirmation of the grant of Earl Walter Gifi'ord 
of lands in the vill of Hillerdon to the church and 
canons of Saint Maria de Crendon, by Alberic de 
Vere and Isabella, daughter of Walter de Bolbec, his 
wife, with the consent of Hugh de Bolbec* The 
other is in the Harleian Collection of Charters, 
British Museum, No. 57, c. 3, and is a grant by 
Alberic de Vere, son of the Earl Alberic and his 
wife Isabella de Bolbec C' ego et Isabella de Bolbec, 
uxor mea") to William Eitz Bering, of the land of 
Hoquering.f Had the evidence occurred in only the 

* " Notura sit omnibus tarn pntibus quam futuris quo ego Albericus 

de Yer et Isabella de Bolbec Jilia Walteri de Bolbec sponsa mea'^ d'c. 

. The Hugh de Bolbec whose cousent was required to this 

gift must have been the cousin of Isabella, as her uncle Hugh was 

dead in 1165.— (Vide page 282, note.) 

t It is indexed, '•' Carta Alberici de Yer fil Alberici comitis et 
femince sum Isabellce filice Walteri de Bolbec, Willielmo fil Derinck de 
Terra de Hoquering, cum sig." The seal is a curiosity, as it is one 
used by this family immediately previous to the introduction of 
armorial bearings, and represents a human figure erect with arms 
extended, the lower half hidden by a monstrous animal, a lion, 
dragon, or dolphin, or more probably one of those nondescripts we 
find upon the shields of the Norman knights in the Bayeux tapestry. 
The arms of De Yere, in the reign of Henry III., were Quarterly 
Gules and Or, in the first quarter a mullet argent. — (Effigy of Bobert, 
third Earl of Oxford, Hatfield Broadoak, and seal of the same ) 
This mullet was certainly borne as a difference. Now it is worthy of 
observation that Geoffrey de Mignaville, Earl of Ess"x, bore the same 



278 A COENEE OP KENT. 

first charter, it might have been questionable. It 
might have been incorrectly transcribed, or altogether 
a forgery ; but we cannot so easily dispose of the 
second. The original, with its curious seal, can be 
seen by any one in the British Museum, and the words 
''son of the Earl Alberic" show that it must have 
been executed during the lifetime of the first Earl of 
Oxford, i.e. ante Dec. 26th, 1194, and subsequent to 
1191, when we know that the earl gave King 
Bichard I. 500 marks to marry a daughter of Walter 
de Bolbec to a son of his, not named. Now, unless 
there were two Isabellas, daughters of a Walter de 
Bolbec, it seems clear that the son he had selected as 
the husband of Isabella was his eldest, Alberic, and 
that they were accordingly married during his life- 
time. That there were not two Isabellas, or, at least, 
that the daughter of Walter de Bolbec, for the dis- 
posal of whose hand the Earl Alberic paid 500 marks, 
was the Isabella eventually wife of E^obert de Vere, 
his second son, is equally clear by the proof that he, 
Robert, in addition to his own fine, promised to pay 
that which " Y. de Bolbec," the lady in question, had 
agreed to give the King that she might not be com- 
pelled to marry according to the plea of Earl Alberic. 
And yet this contract with the King was entered into 
in 1208, six years before the death of Alberic de 
Vere, second Earl of Oxford, with whom in the two 

witliin a bordure vairy, and ClaveriDg descended from Fitz-Bichard, 
the same with a bend sable. 



GENEALOaiCAL AND HERALDIC NOTES. 279 

charters we have just quoted, she is associated as his 
Avife ! The only inference that we can possibly draw 
from these data is, that Isabella, who was certainly a 
minor in 1191,^' and is only spoken of as " the Lady 
Isabella" in 1198, at which time she would, under 
ordinary circumstances, have been Countess of Oxford, 
was married to Alberic in her nonage, and separated 
from him for some reason before 1198, t and that a dis- 
solution of this marriage, and a dispensation from, the 
Pope, on the ground of non-cohabitation, enabled 
her to marry her brother-in-law, E^obert de Yere, in 
1208, when she had become of full age, and after she 
had protested against being compelled to marry con- 
trary to her own inclination. We are by no means 
confident that this is the clue to the mystery, but 
see no other way to reconcile such startling contra- 
dictions. Por Alberic's marriage with Adeliza, 
daughter of Ptoger Bigod, Earl of Norfolk, we have 
no positive authority; but without disputing it, we 
know that he died without issue, and therefore escape 

* If the folio wiDg record applies to her, she was then (1191) in 
her sixteenth year, as she was stated to have been in the tenth 
year of her age in 1185. " Filia Walter! de Bolbec que fait ix. 
annorum a festo sancti Michaelis fuit in custodia Comitis Alberici." — 
(Rot. de Dom.) 

t Even infantile marriages were by no means uncommon in a 
much later age, the object being to secure the property of the heiress 
as soon as possible. Isabella was fifteen when she was sold to the 
earl for his son ; twenty-three when she was mentioned as " the 
Lady Isabella" in the Final Concord, A.D. 1198, thirty-three in 1208, 
and nearly seventy at the time of her death in 1245. 



280 A COENER OF KENT. 

one difficulty which might have seriously increased 
our embarrassment.* 

We have now struggled into the light of day. The 
Close E;oll of the sixteenth of John announces the 
succession of the Earl of Oxford on the death of his 
brother Alberic,t and that of the seventeenth gives to 
E^obert de Vere, Earl of Oxford, the third penny of 
the county. { We have already mentioned the date 
of his death, the enormous fine paid by his widow 
Isabella for the wardship of her son Hugh, her 
subsequent marriage with Henry de Novant, and 
death in 1245. 

Our next step in the pedigree is to show that in 
the seventh of Henry III., 1223, Margaret de Quincy, 
Countess of Winchester, paid 1,000 marks to the king 
for permission to marry her daughter Hawisia to Hugh, 
the young son and heir of E;obert de Vere, formerly 
Earl of Oxford, and who at that time could not be 
more than fourteen. § Hugh died in the forty-seventh 

* Alberic, if we may rely upon the statement of Giraldus, was born 
a few months after the disgrace of his grandfather, Henry de Essex, in 
11G3, at latest in 1164. This would make him twenty-six or twenty- 
seven at the time of his marriage with Isabella. According to the 
same calculation, he was not more than fifty at the period of his 
decease in 1214. 

t "Admissus comitem Oxon post mortem fris Alberici comitis." — 
(Rot. Glaus. 16 John, p. 2, m. 19.) 

J " Robtus de Yeer Comes Oxon de tertio denario comitatus 
Oxon."— (Rot. Clans. 17 John, m. 30.) 

§ '' Margareta comitissa Winton finem fecit cum Dno Rege per 1,000 
marcas ut Hawisia filia sua marietur Hugoni fil et her R de Yeer 
quondam comitis Oxon." — (Rot. Fin. 7 Hen. III. m. 7.) 



GENEALOGICAL AND HERALDIC NOTES. 281 

of Henry III., leaving by his countess, the aforesaid 
Hawisia, a son named Robert, twenty-three years of 
age at his father's death, and who succeeded him as 
fifth Earl of Oxford, and, marrying Alice, daughter of 
Gilbert Lord S andf or d. Chamberlain to Queen Eleanor, 
died in the twenty-fourth of Edward I., 1297, when 
it was found that he held the manor of Eleet-next- 
Sandwich, of John, son of John de Sandwich, and 
that Robert de Vere, son of said Robert, was his next 
heir, and twenty-four years of age. 

We may here dismiss the De Veres, as the re- 
mainder of the pedigree is unconnected with this 
inquiry, and has been sufficiently set down in our 
second chapter, on the descent of the manor of 
Fleet, and return to the family of Bolbec, respecting 
which the greatest uncertainty exists in all its 
branches. 

If we are to credit the assertion of William the 
monk of Jumieges, and we admit that we have no 
evidence to rebut it, one Osborne de Bolbec, by 
Avelina, sister of Gunnora, Duchess of Normandy, 
was the progenitor of half the noble houses in 
England, but specially of the great family of Giffard, 
and of that which retained the original designation 
of Bolbec. We have already, in this chapter, under 
the head of D'Arques, examined the conflicting 
testimony of the descent of Emma, the heiress of 
Eolkestone, from Osborne, and stated our view of 
the connection between the families of De Arcis and 
Bolbec. Beside the Geoffrey de Bolbec there men- 



282 A COENEE OF KENT. 

tioned, there was a Hugh de Bolbec, who, at the 
time of the compilation of Domesday, possessed 
several lordships in various counties, but particularly 
in Buckinghamshire, and who is said to have had two 
sons, Walter and Hugh, who succeeded each other 
in the barony of Bolbec* ISTearly at the same period, 
however, another Hugh de Bolbec, li\dng tenth 
Henry I., in Northumberland, had also two sons 
named Walter and Hugh. Walter founded the 
priory of Blancland, in that county, and died 
before thirty-third of Henry II., leaving issue by his 
wife, Margaret, a son and heir, Walter, who died 
without issue seventh of John, when Hugh, the second 
son, was found heir to his brother Walter. He was 
one of the justices itinerant for the counties of North- 
ampton, York, Northumberland, Cumberland, and 
Lancaster, and died forty-third of Henry III., 1259, 
leaving by his wife Theophania four daughters and 
coheirs ; viz., Philippa, wife of Boger de Lancaster ; 
Margery, first married to Nicholas Corbet, and 
secondly to Balph, son of William, Lord of Grim- 
thorp; Alice, wife of Walter de Huntercombe; and 
Maud, of Hugh de la Val. 

We have been particular in clearing off this line 
of the Bolbecs of Northumberland, because from the 

* His wife appears to have been Hawisia or Helewisia de Courtenay. 
(Vide i)ages 253 and 285, note.) His son Hugh 'founded the Abbey 
of Woburne, in Bedfordshire, 10th of September, 1145, and was dead 
in 1165, when Walter gave the king 100 marks for the wardship of 
his brother's son and heir. — Rot. Pip. 



GENEALOaiCAL AND HERALDIC NOTES. 283 

parity of names and dates confusion has occurred 
on various points between it and that of the 
Buckingham branch, the eldest, as it would appear 
from the descent in it of the barony of Bolbec, and 
therefore undoubtedly the one to which we must 
trace Isabella, Countess of Oxford, as through her 
that barony came to the De Veres. That she was 
the daughter of "Walter de Bolbec, and niece of 
Hugh, is clear enough from the charters and wills 
we have quoted, though Dugdale has increased the 
confusion by stating, inadvertently we presume, that 
she was dmighter of Hugh and sister of Walter, in 
his Baronage, vol. i. p. 191. That she had a sister 
and coheir named Constance, married to Elias de 
Beauchamp, is also clear from the Pinal Concord of 
1198, often alluded to in these pages. Dugdale 
records the match, but did not know the name of the 
lady, which has only reached us through the above- 
mentioned valuable record. That Constance was the 
younger sister we presume from the barony of Bolbec 
falling to Isabella's share ; and therefore, if we have 
been tolerably correct in our calculation of the age 
of the latter, Constance was the wife of Elias de 
Beauchamp at the early age of thirteen or fourteen 
at the utmost.*' But who was the mother of these 
two children ? Certainly not the Margaret de Mont- 

* We tliink it probable that she also died at an early age, for no 
issue is recorded of her, and in 1224 Isabella, as we shall see presently, 
speaks of herself as the heir (not one of the heirs) of Walter de 
Bolbec. 



284 A COUNER OF KENT. 

fitchet whom Dugdale lias married in one place to 
Walter and in another to Hugh de Bolbec ; for she 
was one of the sisters, and coheir of Richard de 
Montfitchet, living forty-second Henry III., 1258, 
and dead in the fifty-first of the same reign (Rot. 
Pip. suh anno) ; nor could she have been the wife of 
the Walter de Eolbec who founded the priory of 
Blancland, as stated in Banks, vol. i. p. 38, unless she 
survived her husband more than seventy years, as he 
was dead in 1185 or 1186. In the Pine Boll of the 
9th of John, 1208, we find that a Margaret de 
Bolbec, who had been the wife of Walter de Bolbec, 
was remarried to Henry de Pontibus, and she is 
expressly stated to have been the daughter of Henry 
the son of Hervey.* As the father of Isabella must 
have been dead in 1191, second of Bichard I., the 
date would correspond well enough with that of the 
remarriage of his widow in 1208 ; but here we are 
met by the evidence of the existence of an undoubted 
widow of our Walter de Bolbec previous to 1224. 
In that year, being the eighth of Henry III., 
Isabella, then widow of Bobert de Yere, petitions 
against the abbot of Mendham (co. Bucks) to 
recover from him three carucates of land in Mend- 
ham, her right and heritage, on the plea that the 
said lands formed no part of the dowry of Egelina 



* Or Henry Fitz-Hervey, wliicli is not quite the same thing. 
" Margareta de Bolbec filia Henrici filii Hervei qui fait uxor ^Yalteri." 
She was probably the widow of the founder of Blanchnd. 



GENEALOGICAL AND HEKALDIC NOTES. 285 

cle Courtenay, of the gift of her husband Walter de 
Bolbec, whose heir she (the said Isabella) is.* We 
must surely conclude from this document that 
Egelina, widow of Walter de Bolbec, was not the 
mother of his daughter Isabella, and that both she and 
her sister Constance were by a former wife, who could 
not long have survived the birth of her second child, 
as Walter must have remarried before 1191, in which 
year he was dead. His having no son would account 
for his re-entering the married state as soon as pos- 
sible ; but whether Egelina was a Courtenay by birth, 
or had taken to herself a second husband of that 
family before 1224, we have yet to discover: from 
the lapse of time, most probably the latter. f The 
production of a single charter, the information con- 
tained in a few lines of some overlooked record, may, 
before these pages meet the public eye, upset all 
these calculations ; but they are, at any rate, founded 

* " Isabella qui fuit uxor Roberti de Yeer petit vsus abbatem de 
Mendliam 3 caruc terr cum ptni in ib ut jus et bereditatem suam in 
quos id Abbas non het iugressum nisi per Egelinam de Courtenay 
qui non babuit inde nisi dotem ex done Walteri de Bolbec viri sui 
cujus teres ipse est."— (MSS. Coll. Arm. Yinct. 13, p. 16.) The 
Abbey of Mendham was founded by Hugb, the brother of Walter, as 
a cell to Woburne, shortly after the foundation of the latter in 1145. 

+ A Reginald de Courtenay had custody of the daughter and lands 
of the other Walter de Bolbec, founder of the priory of Blancland, 
according to two entries in the Rot. de Dominabus, 1185. We have 
proof also that a Helewisia de Bolbec, grandmother of Constance de 
Bolbec, possessed the advowson of the Chapel of Fleet (vide p. 253) ; 
and in a pedigree in the Coll. of Arms (E. 13, p. 15), she is stated 
to have been "Hawes d. to the Lord Courtenay." 



286 A CORNER OF KENT. 

on official data, and are offered as the best solution 
we can suggest of a hitherto neglected genealogical 
puzzle. 

CREYECOEUR. 

Hamo de Crevecoeur,** in consequence of his for- 
tunate marriage with Maud d'Avranches, the second 
great lady of Polkestone, figures very conspicuously 
in all the pedigrees of his family, as well as those 
of several connected Avith it ; but, as is too often the 
case in such matters, this important match is alone 
recorded, no mention being made of his first wife, or 
third wife who survived him,t and the issue by the 
first confounded with his children by the second. 
The four coheiresses of Maud d'Avranches — Agnes, 
Isolda, Eleanor, and Isabel — are incorrectly stated 
in our standard genealogical works to have succeeded 
to the large estates of their mother upon the death 
without issue of their brother Eobert. This is an 
error. The E;obert alluded to was their nephew, the 
son of their half-brother Hamo de Crevecoeur, who 
was the only son of their father Hamo by his first 
wife, name and family unknown. $ Hamo the younger 

* The arms of this family were, Or a cross voided gules. 

t His third wife was named Alice, by whom he had no issue. 

J Hamo the elder was the son of a Robert de Crevecoeur, son of 
Daniel, son of Kobert Fitz Hamon de Crevecoeur, who had two wives ; 
by the first, named Isabella, he apparently had his son Adam, co- 
founder of the Priory of Ledes, co. Kent. By the second, Rosina, he 
had two sons, Elias and Daniel. The former, lord of the manor of 
Sarre, temp. Hen. I., had an only daughter and heir, Emma, of whom 
hereafter. Hamo, the husband of Maud d'Avranches, was the- 



GENEALOGICAL AND HERALDIC NOTES. 287 

died during the lifetime of his father, forty-seventh 
of Henry III. (1263), leaving the said Robert and 
two other sons — John and Thomas — by his wife 
Joan — his widow in 1263. Eobert, by his wife 
Isolda (family yet undiscovered), had a son named 
William, wbo died unmarried, or at least without 
issue, tw^o or three years before his father. Hamo 
the elder had also by his first wife a daughter, who 
married a son of Thomas de Camville under age in 
1234. Erom a charter dated thirty-first of Edward I., 
A.D. 1303, we believe this lady's name was Isabella, 
and that of her husband Roger de Oamville; and 
they and their issue, if they had any, would be the 
heirs of Robert de Crevecoeur before his aunts of the 
half-blood. To these ladies, however, the four 
daughters of Maud d'Avranches, came, it is evident, 
the great property derived from Emma d'Arques and 
Maud de Bovil. The eldest, Agnes, married John, 
de Sandwich, a member of one of the oldest and^ 
most influential families in this part of Kent, yet ' 



grandson of Daniel, as above stated, and is also called the son of 
Robert de Crevecoeur, heir of Walkeline de Maminot j but whether 
through his own parents or by his wife is not clear. "Walkeline de 
Maminot married Julianna de Yere, daughter of Alberic, the Cham- 
berlain, and widow of Hugh Bigod, Earl of Norfolk, but died 
without issue. He is said to have left one only sister and heir, who 
carried the honor of Maminot into the family of Say ; but by his 
charter to St. Saviour's, Bermondsey, witnessed by his wife Julianna, 
it appears he had several brothers (one named Matthew) and sisters. 
"Matthei fratris mei et fratrum meorum, et sororum mearura." — 
(Harleian MSS., No. 4757.) 



288 A CORNER OE KENT. 

of which no pedigree exists, and hut for this 
great prize in the lottery of marriage, might have 
escaped altogether the notice of our genealogists. 
Isolda married Nicholas de Lenham, Eleanor became 
the wife of Bertram de Criol, and Isabel espoused 
Henry de Gant.* 

Of the descent from Agnes we shall speak in our 
notice of the mysterious family of Sandwich, and 
the issue of Eleanor will likewise be described in our 
examination of the pedigree of Criol, or Keriel. The 
heirs of Isolda appear to have been the Giffords of 
Bures, or Bury, in Essex, and the property passed to 
the family of St. Nicholas, under which we shall 
revert to this line. Of Isabel no issue is recorded 
by either of her husbands, and her sisters or their 
issue, by an escheat of the eleventh of Edward I., 
No. 38, are said to be next of kin. It is an 
extent of the manor of Morton, which the jurors 
find Isabella de Gant held of the king; and they 
say that Eleanora, wife of Bertram de Kyriel, John de 
Lenham, and Juliana, daughter of John de Sandwico, 
are her nearest heirs ; and they further say that 
Eleanora, sister of the said Isabella, is of age, and has 
been so now for thirty years past ; and that the said 

* MSS. Coll. Arm. Vincent. No. 61, and Segar, Baron, vol. i. 319. 
She is styled in a charter, "Domina de Mortona, quondam uxor 
Henrici de Gandivo" (MSS. Coll. Arm. R 27, marked ''Kent"), 
and died, as we shall see, seized of that manor, 11th of Edward I., 
A.D. 1284. Segar, in his MS. Baronage, Coll. Arms, says she re- 
married with William de Patteshull. 



GENEALOGICAL AND HERALDIC NOTES. 289 

John de Lenham, son of Ysonde (Isolda), sister of the 
said Isabella, is of age, and has been for nine years 
past ; and that the said Julianna, daughter of the said 
John de Sandwico, who was the son of Agnes, sister 
of the said Isabella, is under age, and of the age of 
eight years. 

Should any general reader, '' unsifted in such peril- 
ous matters," have ventured to follow us thus far, or 
accidentally cast his eye over the above dozen lines, 
he may be interested at finding how much curious 
and trustworthy material for the historian or bio- 
grapher is to be picked out of these ancient inquisi- 
tions, the truth of which was sworn to by the twelve 
persons appointed to make the return. We learn by 
the document just quoted, that in 1284 Eleanor de 
Criol was the sole surviving sister, and upwards of 
fifty years of age; that John, son of Ysoude (Isolda), 
by her husband, Nicholas de Lenham, had attained 
the age of thirty ; and that Julianna de Sandwich, 
grand-daughter of Agnes, the eldest sister, was a child 
of eight years old. Such facts enable us to correct 
the numerous inaccuracies which occur in pedigrees 
compiled from other genealogical works, untested by 
the investigation of similar official records. The 
attempt, by any other means, to reconcile the contra- 
dictions they involve, invariably leads to confusion 
worse confounded. 

We shall find the Criols or Keriels in our path in 
almost every step of our present inquiry ; but before 
we examine their pedigree, we will dispose of what 

V 



290 A CORNER OF KENT. 

concerns us in another important family, of whicli 
they seem to have carried off the heiress, viz., that of 

ATJBERVILLE. 

The name of Auberville or Osburvill, and occasion- 
ally latinized Albertvilla, occurs in Domesday, at the 
period of the compilation of which a William de 
Auberville held Berham, in Hertfordshire. A Roger 
de Auberville was also a contemporary of the Con- 
queror, and is presumed to have been the father of 
the aforesaid William. In the next century, however, 
during the reign of Henry I., there were co-existing 
a Hugh de Auberville and a John and a William de 
Osburville. In the thirty-first year of that monarch's 
reign, A.D. 1131, John and William were still living, 
but Hugh was dead, having left a widow named 
Wynanc ;* and Turgisius d'Avranches gave the king 
three hundred silver marks, one gold mark, and one 
war-horse, for the lands and wife (widow) of Hugo de 
Albertvilla, and twenty-two marks annually to have 
his son in ward. This son was William de Auberville, 
Lord of Westenhanger,t who married Matilda, 
daughter and co-heir of Eanulph de Glanville, by his 
wife, Berta de Yaloignes. In his charter to Langdon 
Priory, he mentions his wife Matilda, his son William, 

* Kamed in the foundation charter of Langdon Priory, 1192, as 
one of those to be prayed for. — Mon. Ang. vol. ii. p. 622. 

t Hugh had also a daughter named Alice, married to Fulk de 
Lizures, and living, his widow, 1185, aged fifty and upwards. — Rot. 
de Dominabus. 



GENEALOGICAL AND HERALDIC NOTES. 291 

and his daughter Emma. He died before the tenth of 
John, A.D. 1208. 

His son and heir was Hugh de Auberville, who 
married a lady named Johanna or Joan, and died 
fifteenth of John, 1213, when William Brewer gave 
the king one thousand marks to have the whole of 
his land, and the marriage of his heirs and of Johanna, 
who was the wife of the said Hugh. His successor 
was his son Sir William de Auberville, who died 
twenty-ninth of Henry III., 1245,* leaving a widow, 
named Isabella (who in 1249 married Heginald de 
E vermuth), and an only daughter, Joan, who married, 
first, in 1247, Sir Henry de Sandwich, of Dentdelion, 
Thanet; and secondly, before 1254, Nicholas de Criol. j, \^ 
There is no record of any issue by her first husband f^ ^A^^'^^^^^^^ 
but the descent from her second husband is most (^j^^ o^ 
important to our history, and will be pursued in our ^/^^ 
examination of the pedigree of 

CEIOL OR KERIEL. 

This family, which took its name from Creuil or 

* In that year lie made a grant to Christ Church, Canterbury, of 
20s., *' de libro redditu de Domico meo de Ostringehanges et Beruvye" 
etc. .... The witnesses being Dn^ Koberto de Auberville, Dii<^ 
Symone de Sandwyco, Dn^ Simone de Hauth militibus, John Checke, 
WilH Brewere.— (MS. Coll. Arms, R. 27, C. 1989, 1993.) The seal 
attached to a deed of this William exhibits his arms, — Parted per fess 
dancette two annulets in chief and one in base. We are inclined to 
believe that this coat is composed of that of Glanville and the original 
arms of Auberville, or that it is simply the coat of Glanville differenced 
by the annulets. In the coat of Sandwich, derived, as we believe, 
from a collateral source, the indented chief is frequently so deep that 
it appears as if the shield were parted per fess. 

u 2 




>^- 



292 A coRNEii or kent. 

Crielj a town in the department of the Oise, and now 
a station on the railway not far from Paris, was of 
eminence in England shortly after the Conquest, and 
before the close of- the twelfth century held consider- 
able possessions in the county of Kent.* John de 
Criol, in 1194, gave the church of Sarre, or Serres, 
in the parish of St. Nicholas, Thanet, to the Priory 
of Ledes, and a daughter of this house, named Cecilia, 
appears to have been the wife of Simon d'Avranches, 
in the reign of Eichard I., as we have already men- 
tioned, p. 262. 

John de Criol had by his wife Margery four sons, — 
Bertram, who became Sheriff of Kent, Simon, Wil- 
liam, and Nicholas. The latter married Margery de 
Clifford, by w^hom he left three daughters and coheirs. 
The elder brother Bertram married a lady named 
Emma,t and had by her three sons, — John, Simon, 

^ It is important to remark that Elias de Crevecoeur, living 1145, 
and great-uncle of Hamo de Crevecoeur, was lord of the manor and 
patron of the church of Sarre, the advowson of which he gave to 
the Canons of Ledes Priory, co. Kent, in the reign of Henry I. 
(Text. Roffensis, vol. i. p. 598), and left an only daughter and heir, 
named Emma, living 1207, from whom, by marriage or otherwise, this 
property must have passed to the Criols, 

t Supposed to be the above-named Emma de Crevecoeur ; but not 
only do the dates render this improbable, but the advowson of the 
church of Sarre we find had been previously claimed by Bertram's 
father in 1194. In the MS. Coll. Arms, marked R. 27, are copies 
of three charters. 1. That of Emma de Creuquer, confirming a 
grant of Philip Utdevers to the canons of Begeham ; 2. that of 
Robert de Creuquer, confirming the donation of Emma; and 3. that 
of Nicholas de Kenet, confirming the gift of Emma de Creuquer, 
" mater mea'^ 



GENEALOGICAL AND HERALDIC NOTES. 293 

and Nicholas.* The eldest, John, married in 1233 
Matilda de Estwell, his father Bertram in that year 
paying 40 marks to the king for the permission. 
John de Criol died forty-eighth Henry III., 1263, 
leaving by his wife Matilda four sons, — Bertram, 
Ralph, Edmund, and Alured.t Bertram married 
Eleanor, one of the four daughters and coheiresses 
of Hamo de Crevecoeur and Maud d'Avranches, as 
noticed at p. 288. He died second of Edward I., 
leaving by Eleanor two sons, John and Bertram, and 
one daughter named Joan. John married a lady 
named Eleonora, and Bertram one named Petronilla. 
The families of both ladies are at present unknown ; 
neither, however, had any issue, and consequently, 
on the death of Bertram (who survived his brother) 
in the thirty-fourth year of Edward I., his sister 
Joan, then twenty-eight years of age, and the wife of 
Sir Bichard de Bokesly, was found to be the next 
heir. This Joan, by her husband Sir Bichard, had 
two daughters and coheirs, Johanna and Agnes. 
The former married Sir William Baude, and the 
latter, first, Walter de Patteshull, and secondly 
Thomas de Poynings. We must now return to 
Nicholas, the younger son of Bertram de Criol by 
his wife Emma. This was the Nicholas who, as 
we have stated, p. 291, married Joan, daughter 

* Inquis. post Mort. 

+ This Aliired appears to have had a daughter named Isabel, ^nd 
we are inclined to believe that she married William de Chilton {vide 
p. 85), as Chilton passed, after William's death, to the heirs 
of Criol. 



294 A CORNER or KENT. 

and heir of Sir William de Auberville, aud widow 
of Sir Henry de Sandwich. He appears to have 
survived her and married a second wife named 
Margery, family unknown, by whom he had no issue. 
By his first wife Joan, however, he had at least one 
son, named after him Nicholas, living thirtieth 
Edward I., and who married Margaret, daughter of 
Sir John Peche. By her he had a son, also named 
Nicholas, who died third of Edward III., A.D. 1320, 
leaving by his wife E^osia (who re-married John 
Bertram) a son John, who died in 1377, leaving by 
his wife Lettice, who survived him, two sons, 
Nicholas and John, and a daughter Ida, who married 
Sir John Brockhull. John, the youngest son, mar- 
ried Alice, daughter and coheir of John de Botetourt, 
and dying sixth of Henry YL, left an only daughter 
Joan, wife of John Wykes, of Sarre Court and St. 
Lawrence, Isle of Thanet. Nicholas, his elder bro- 
ther, survived his father Sir John but four years, 
dying third of Eichard IL, 1380. His wife was 
Elizabeth, daughter of Maud Trussell, who survived 
him,* and by w4iom he had William, son and heir, 
aged thirty at the time of his father's death. 
William died first of Henry Y., 1412, leaving two 
sons, Thomas and John. Thomas Keriel, the eldest 
(for so the name had now become written), was 
found at that period to be eighteen years of age, 
and heir to his grandmother Elizabeth, daughter 

"^ Tuq. post mortem, seventh of Henry Y., 1419. 



GENEALOGICAL ANB HERALDIC NOTES. 295 

of Maud Trussell. He was made a Knight of the 
Garter by King Henry YI., but was never installed, 
and was beheaded in 1461 by order of Edward IV., 
having been taken prisoner in the fatal battle of St. 
Albans. He was twice married : by his first wife, 
whose name is yet unknown, he had an only daughter 
named Alice, who married Sir John Pogg, of Repton. 
His second wife was Cecilia, daughter of John Stor- 
ton, of Preston and Birmpton, co. Kent, and who 
re-married with John Hill. By her he had no 
children. John Keriel, his younger brother, mar- 
ried, first, Jane, daughter of Roger Clitherow, whose 
brass we have described at page 208, and secondly 
Elizabeth Chiche, who survived him, and married 
two other husbands, but had no issue by any. 
Here, then, we arrive at the extinction of this 
male line of Criol, and it is not within the scope of 
this inquiry to follow the descent of the various 
other branches.* 

* The arms of Criol or Keriel are generally blazoned, Or two 
chevrons and a canton gules ; but, in a KoU of Henry lll.'s time, 
the canton is called a quarter. " Bertram de Criol, d'or ove deux 
chevrons et ung quartier de goules ;" and in a Roll of the same date 
copied by Nicholas Charles, Lancaster Herald, the canton, if a canton 
it be, is certainly as large as a quarter. A singular variety of the 
arms of Criol is to be found in the copy of an ancient Roll of Arms in 
the Heralds' College,— (Vincent, 165.) It is attributed to "Nicholas 
de Cry el," and displays party per chevron (or, from the curving of 
the lines it may be intended for what Heralds call Point in Point,) or 
and gules, three annulets, counterchanged. The original Roll we 
should date about the close of the reign of Edward I. ; and the coat 
a])pearing to be founded on that of Auberville induces us to imagine 



296 A CORNER OF KENT. 

We must now attack one of the most difficult 
subjects we have to deal with,— the pedigree of the 
family of 

SANDWICH. 

Mr. Boys, in his valuable Collections for the his- 
tory of the place, from whence they derived their 
name, gives up the task in despair, and contents 
himself with enumerating the instances in which a 
Henry, a Simon, a John, or a Ealph de Sandwich, is 
met with in charter or chronicle, without any attempt 
to identify the individual. The great match of John 
de Sandwich with Agnes de Crevecoeur, Lady of Eolk- 
stone, has secured for him and his immediate de- 
scendants a most prominent position in all genealogical 
histories, baronages, peerages, &c. ; but who was his 
father or mother ? Had he any brothers or sisters ? 
With what other families of eminence was he con- 
nected by intermarriage or descent ? On these points 
all are silent ; and for the little information we are 
now enabled to lay before our readers we are mainly 
indebted to William Courthope, Esq., Somerset He- 
rald, whose familiarity with our ancient records has 
made his kind assistance of the greatest value to us. 
The origin of the family, however, is still involved in 
mist. The earliest members of it do not appear to have 
been called " de Sandwich,"* and the similarity of the 

it is that of Nicholas de Criol, son and heir of Joan de Auberville. — 
Vide p. 291. 

* We are told by Tanner, Notit. Monast., that Thomas Crump- 
tlwrne and Elizabeth his wife, who founded St. Bartholomew's Hospi- 



GENEALOGICAL AND HERALDIC NOTES. 297 

armorial bearings accorded to that name, with those 
of the Butlers, descended from Hervey Walter (viz. 
Or, a chief indented azure), point to a common origin, a 
marriage with an heiress or an important infeudation.* 
Herbert "Walter, one of the sons of Hervey, and bro- 
ther of Theobald Walter, the immediate ancestor of 
the Butlers of Ireland and Marquises of Ormond, 
was Archbishop of Canterbury, and must, therefore, 
have possessed the greatest power and influence in 
this Corner of Kent. We know that a branch of 
these Butlers descended from a Thomas Pincerna, 
held land in Pleet of the Archbishop, from which 
circumstance it obtained the name of Butler's Tleet; 



tal in 1190, were of the family of Sandwich, and Mr. Boys quotes a 
MS. in his possession to the same effect : — "Anno secundo Eichardi 
primi Thomas Crawthorne and Maude his wife, of the worshipful 
familie of the Sandwiches, first founded the Hospital of St. Bartholo- 
mew." William Burcharde, one of the early benefactors, was after- 
wards in possession " de tenemento de Crawthorne," and in the 
Costumal of Sandwich, the priests of St. Bartholomew's Hospital are 
required to pray for the souls of Bertine de Crawthorne, William 
Bourcharde, Sir Henry de Sandwich, and all their ancestors and 
posterity. Can Crumpthorne and Crawthorne be corruptions of 
Crookthorne, Curvaspiria, and Courbespine, the well-known name of 
an ancient Norman family, and ancestors of the Maminots ? A Sir 
Balph de Courbespine was witness with William de Arches to a 
charter of William the Conqueror. 

* The arms of the family of Crauthorne, lords of Crauthorne, in 
Langport hundred, corroborate this statement, as they are the same 
as those of Butler and Sandwich, differenced by a label of five points 
gules. Thomas de Crauthorne, in the reign of Edward I., was a 
benefactor to the Carmelites of Saudwich, and was buried in St. 
Peter's Church there. — Hasted, vol. iii. p. 506. 



298 A CORNER OF KENT. 

and also that the great family of Yere continued for 
several generations to hold land in the same locality 
under that of Sandwich. Philipot has an unsupported 
pedigree beginning with, the names of Manwin and 
of Salomon of Sandwich, the son of Manwin ;* but it is 
not till the reign of Henry III. that we get any reliable 
information respecting the family. In a grant to 
St. Bartholomew's Hospital, Sandwich, by William 
Burcharde, we meet with the names of Henry de Sand- 
wich,t and of his son Simon, — ''Domino Henrico der"^" 
Sandwich, Domino Simonefilio suo." His son Bobert 
is also a witness to a charter of Henry de Kubergh. 
Henry de Sandwich names his wife Lucia in a deed 
without date, of the Abbey of St. Eadegund.J Sir 



* He appears to have found these names in a deed without date in 
the Priory Book of St. Martin's at Dover, by whicli Salomon of 
Sandwich, the son of Manwin, makes a donation to the priory of the 
value of 6s. 8d. per annum.— Church Notes, Harl. MS., No. 3917, 
p. 36. 

t Sir Henry de Sandwich had a grant of the lands of Kobert de 
Curcy, CO. Kent, 30tli September, 1204. He was remitted from 
knight's service 27th April, 1205, and 6th of June following had 
by writ seizin of the manor of Bilsington, co. Kent. He was bailiff 
of Sandwich A.D. 1213-1223, was seized of Dane Court, in Thanet, 
1230, which had previously belonged to Sir Ralph de Sandwich, and 
had license to erect an oratory there in that year j held Ham, in the 
same county, as heir of E.alph Fitz Bernard j endowed the hospital of 
St. Bartholomew, Sandwich, about the year 1244, with the license 
of Pope Innocent III. in the second year of his pontificate, and was 
buried in the chapel there, where his effigy, in the military liabit of 
the period, is still to be seen in good preservation. 

t " Hen. de Sandwyco d. &c., 10s., A.R. apud Sandwic, &c. 
salute anime mee et Lucij uxoris mee, etc." The witnes^ses are Dno. 



.4 

I 



GENEALOGICAL AND HERALDIC NOTES. 299 

Simon de Sandwich first married a lady named 
Juliana, and it is strano^e that her family should not 
have been recorded, as it is evident she must have 
been a person of considerable importance, the name 
of Juliana being^cherished by her descendants, and 
much wealth apparently derived from her. He had 
two brothers, E^obert and John ; the latter was the 
fortunate husband of the great coheiress Agnes de 
Crevecoeur, sometimes called Agnes d'Avranches, as 
she carried off the whole barony of Folkestone? 
which had come down in that family from Maud 
de Monville, wife of the first Rualon d'Avranches. 
By this Agnes, John de Sandwich had two sons, John 
and Nicholas. John, afterwards Sir John de Sand- 
wich, died eleventh of Edward I., 1282, leaving by 
his wife Alice,* who re-married with Sir Henry de 
Panebrig, an infant daughter, aged eight at that pe- 
riod, and named Juliana, who became the wife, first, 
of Sir E/ichard Weylond, from whom she was divorced 
in 1302, and secondly, of Sir John de Segrave. No 
mention is made of issue by her first husband ; but 
she is said to have had an only daughter by her second 
husband, named Maria, who died, aged fifteen, unmar- 
ried, the twenty-third of Edward III. This, however, 
is wholly incorrect ; Maria was her grand-daughter, 

Hoger de Betleshanger, Osbo & Hamo fribus suis, Augero et Omero 
de Sandwich.^MS. Coll. Arms, R 27, " Kent." 

* She was party to an agreement with her brother-in-law, 
touching her dower (thirty-fourth Edward I., 1305) out of land at 
Woodensborough, co. Kent. 



300 A COIINEK OF KENT. 

the only child of her son John de Segrave,* and on 
the death of this Maria, who was only fifteen days 
old at the death of her father, and lived altogether 
but five months, t Nicholas de Sandwich, son of 
Nicholas, brother of Sir John de Sandwich, was found 
to be her cousin and next heir, and at that time, 1349, 
to be fifty years of age. He was lord of the manor 
and rector of Otham, co. Kent, and also rector of St. 
Michael's, Crooked Lane, London ; and in him this 
line of the family expired. J 

We must now return to Simon and Juliana. They 
appear to have had issue three sons, Henry, John, 
and Ralph, and one daughter, Juliana, married to 
Pulk Peyforer. Henry de Sandwich was the first 
husband of Joan, daughter and heir of Sir William 
de Auberville, and did homage for his lands which 

* Aged twenty -nine at the death of his father in 1343, and whom 
he only survived six years, dying on Wednesday, 8th of July, 1349. 
—(P. M. Inqnis., 22nd August, twenty-third Edward III., 1349.) 
Julianna had also, by Sir John Segrave, a daughter Elizabeth, married 
first to Kichard Foliot, Esq., and secondly (fifth of Edward III., 1331) 
to Sir Eoger de North wode. She died without issue at Canterbury, 
11th Dec, 1335, and was buried at Sheppey. 

+ She died on Tuesday after the feast of St. Bartholomew, A.D. 
1349.— P. M. Inquis., taken at Lyminge, Dec. 16th, 1349, twenty- 
third of Edward III. 

i He died in 1370, having in 1358 enfeoffed Edward de Stabelgate 
into his manors of Bilsiugton, Poldre, Eastry, and rent charge on 
Folkestone. His arms in Otham church had a mullet in chief for 
difference. — (Petre le Neve's Ch. Notes, 1610-24.) He had a younger 
brother John, dead before 1357, who was the first husband of Bene- 
dict, daughter of John de Shelving, who remarried, 1358, Sir 
Edmond Haute. 



GENEALOGICAL AND HERALDIC NOTES. 301 

he held of the king in capite, in right of his wife, 
the aforesaid Joan, thirty-second of Henry III., 1248. 
He was of Dent-de-Lion, now called Dandelion, in the 
Isle of Thanet, and seems to have had no issue by 
Joan d' Auberville, as Dent-de-Lion eventually passed, 
by marriage with his niece Juliana to William de 
Leybourne, who died seized of it third of Edward II., 
1310. This Juliana is said by some genealogists to 
have been daughter of his sister Juliana by Eulk ' 
Peyforer, and heir to her uncle Sir Ealph. Others 
make her daughter as well as heir to Halph, who was 
probably heir to his brother Henry. Sir Halph was 
certainly married, for he was one of the Kentish 
knights summoned with his wife, " consortis suae." 
to attend the coronation of Edward II. He appears 
to have been a person in great estimation, as we find 
him appointed to various high offices during the 
reigns of Henry III. and Edward I. He was keeper 
of the king's wardrobe, and as such received the 
great seal at Gloucester forty-ninth of Henry III. 
(1264i-5) ; had the custody of the bishopric of Lon- 
don, first Edward I., 1272, and of the archbishopric of 
Canterbury, sixth of the same reign, 1277. The same 
year he was made constable and warden of Dover 
Castle ; witnessed the homage of Alexander, king of 
Scots, 29th September, 1278 ; was one of the council 
deputed to hear the complaints of the barons of 
Sandwich 1280 ; a member of the council of Prince 
Edward in 1297 ; had the custody of the Tower of 
London in 1306 ; and was summoned, as we have 



302 A CORNER OF KENT. 

already stated, to attend with his wife the coronation 
of Edward 11., 8th February, 1308 ; and yet we are 
ignorant who was that wife, or whether she was the 
mother of his child, for such we certainly believe 
Juliana to have been, as on her marriage with 
William de Leybourne she had settled on her Dane 
Court, of which we find Sir Ralph, his brother 
Henry, his father and grandfather, were each in turn 
seized.* She survived her husband, who died before 
March 3rd, 1310, and by whom she had two children 
— Idonea, married to Geoffrey de Say, and Thomas 
de Leyburn, who died during his father's lifetime, 
leaving an only daughter, an infant of three years 
of age, Julianna de Leyburn, that great heiress of 
whom we have already so often spoken, and whose 
line failed in 1391, on the death of her great-grand- 
son, John de Hastings, Earl of Pembroke, when all 
her issue became extinct {vide p. 76). -Of John, 
the third son of Sir Simon, all we know at present 
is, that certain lands in E^ipple, Ham, and Walling 
were settled on him in remainder by his father in 
1255.t 

* The point is all but settled by the fact recorded in the Patent 
Roll of the 49th Henry III., M. 4, that the manor of Preston, which 
had belonged to Simon de Sandwich (the father of Sir Ralph), and 
which had been seized by the King in consequence of the said Simon 
being '' inimicus Regis," is directed to be given to Juliana de Ley- 
bourne, to whom it would come " de jure hereditatis." 

t A John de Sandwich, armiger, is entered amongst the persons 
commemorated in the Leiger Book of Davington Priory, and imme- 
diately after his name we read " Beatrice de Sancwhich." 



GENEALOGICAL AND HERALDIC NOTES. 303 

Here we are at fault, and fear even to venture a 
guess respecting the origin of another branch of this 
great family, from which the Harfleets of Checquer 
and Holland were immediately descended. There 
was undoubtedly a Nicholas,* son of Thomas de 
Sandwich, whose sister Margaret married Henry de 
Goshall, and whose daughter and heiress Anne was 
the wife of John Septvans, the progenitor of the 
Harfleets, according to the pedigree in Philipot's 
MS., before mentioned. Thomas, in that pedigree, 
is set down as the son of a William de Sandwich, 
who, in one account, is made the husband of a 
daughter of John Lord Oobham, and in another, of 
Eleanor^ daughter of Hamo de Orevecoeur,t the 

* There was a Nicholas de Sandwich, whose daughter Mabel is said 
to have married William, the last male heir of Avranches, before 1236. 
Another Nicholas de Sandwich was prior of Christchurch, Canterbury, 
elected November 1, 1244 j resigned, 1258 j precentor, 1262. A third 
Nicholas was a proprietor of lands in the hundred of Cornhil and Eastry, 
seventeenth of Edward I., and died 1289. — (Epitaph in Canterbury 
Cathedral.) A fourth Sir Nicholas, son of Sir Simon de Sandwich, Lord 
Warden, temp. Richard II., was a great benefactor of St. Bartholo- 
mew's Hospital at Sandwich, and is buried in the chapel there. — ("MS. 
penes G. B.," quoted by Boys in his Collections.) His arms are 
said to have been those of the Cirque Ports, impaling a lion rampant 
guardant. 

t This at'first sight seems to be a blunder arising from some confusion 
respecting the match of John de Sandwich with Agnes, daughter of 
Hamo de Crevecoeur, and that of Eleanor, her sister, with Bertram de 
Criol j but non constat that there might not have been an Eleanor, 
daughter of another Hamo de Crevecoeur, one of the branch of Hamo 
de Blen. The name of Hamo is exceedingly common in the family 
of Crevecoeur, and we find a Ham.o de Sandwich who was prebendary 



304 A CORNER or KENT. 

said William being the son of Salomon, the son of 
Man win, as we have already stated. No trace of any 
of these names occurs in any of the numerous official 
records and charters from which we have gleaned 
the information just laid before our readers. Boys 
is perfectly silent respecting them, and Philipot 
himself appears to have been doubtful of his infor- 
mation, and quotes no authorities, though we have 
seen from whence he obtained the names of Man win 
and Salomon. To Thomas he gives for a wife a 
nameless daughter of Thomas de Helles, of Wood- 
ensborough, and to his son Nicholas an anonymous 
daughter of ... . Hess, of Great Mongeam, 
distinguishing that family by a shield of arms, 
displaying argent a fess sable (charged with a 
mullet or) between three lions rampant gules. This 
coat, without the mullet, is to be found in a copy of a 
Eoll of Arms of the 14th century. ^ — (Vincent, 165, Coll. 
Arms.) And a E,obert de Hes is witness to a charter 
of Matilda de Auberville in company with Henry 
de Sandwich, Eobert de Gosehall, William de Bock- 
land, and Andrew and Wibert de Sandwich. — (Har- 
leian Charters, 45 E. 33.) Now, first, as to William. 
Thoroton, in his History of Nottinghamshire, men- 

of Hereford in 1318. — (Willis's Cathedrals.) The match with a 
daughter of John Lord Cobham could not so well have escaped notice 
in some of the Cobham pedigrees ; but there is one curious piece of 
evidence in support of it, viz. the arms of Sandwich dimidiated 
with those of Cobham, formerly in a window of Cobham church, Kent. 
^Philipot, MS. Coll. Arms, Pe. I. p. 94. 



GENEALOGICAL AND HERALDIC NOTES. 305 

tions a William de Sandwich, who had a brother 
John and a sister Idonea ; but they were the children 
of a John de Sandwich living in 1312.* Boys has 
also discovered in the Register Berthona, Archives of 
Canterbury, a William, brother of Henry ; but neither 
of the Henries of whom we have found positive 
evidence was the son of " Salomon, the son of 
Man win." Next, as to Thomas. Bobinson, in his 
" Gavelkind," tells us of a Thomas, son of Thomas de 
Sandwich, who had the custody of William and 
Thomas, sons of John de Helles, sixth of Edward II., 
as *'next of kin to whom their inheritance could 
not come." Philipot, we have observed, gives to 
Thomas de Sandwich the daughter of a Thomas de 
Helles for a wife. Supposing her to have been a sister 
of John, father of the wards William and Thomas 
de Helles, her son Thomas de Sandwich would have 
been their cousin, to whom, for some reason, their 
inheritance could not come. It is clear, at any rate, 
that the two families were connected by ties of blood ; 
and by a Plea Boll of the thirty-third of Edward I. 
we find that a Thomas de Sandwich, living about the 

* It is a fine levied in 1312 between Jobn de Sandwich and Mar- 
garet, daughter of Walter de Lundy, querentes, and Nicholas de 
Haliwell, deforciant, of three messuages, &c. ; whereby they were 
settled on the said John and Margaret for life, afterwards on Idonea, 
the daughter of John and the heir of her body ; remainder to John , 
his brother, and his heirs ; remainder to John de Sandwich and his 
heirs, William being brother of Idonea, and John the son of John. 

Vide also MS. Coll. Arms, R. 27, where the witnesses to a charter, 
C 750, are "Henr. de Sandwico, Will, fre suo." 

X 



306 A COUNER OF KENT. 

same period, had a wife named Johanna and a son 
named John.* That he was the son of a Thomas, 
and may therefore be identified as the guardian of 
the children of John de Helles, is fairly deducible 
from the two following extracts from the Pine Rolls. 
The first, circa third of Edward I., shows us Thomas 
de Sandwich, plaintiff, and E/obert de Crevecoeur and 
Isolda his wife, defendants, in a suit respecting 
lands in Meet by Sandwich, the right of said 
Thomas and Johanna his wife, and the heirs of the 
said Thomas ; while in an earlier one of the forty- 
fifth of Henry III., Andrew de MoUand, Matilda his 
wife, and Idonea de la Porde, are plaintiffs, and 
Thomas de Sandwich, defendant, respecting two parts 
of a messuage, &c., in Ash, recognized by said 
Andrew and others as the right of the said Thomas. 
Still later we find another Thomas de Sandwich, of 
Essex, who had a wife named Elena ; but still we are 
unable to identify him with Thomas, the son of 
William, and the father of Sir Nicholas, or even to 



* *' Inter Thomam de Sandwico Joha uxorem ejus, et JoM filius 
eorum de terris in Lyme." Vide also a Final Concord of thirty-second 
Edward I. between Thomas de Sandwich and Henry Perot and 
Johanna his wife j from which it may be inferred that Johanna Perot 
was the daughter of Thomas de Sandwich. — (Lansdowne MS., Brit. 
Mus. 268.) It is also worth observing that in the twenty-eighth of 
Henry III. there was a Final Concord between one of this same family 
of Perot, named Alan, and Simon Fitz Henry de Sandwich, respecting 
land in Poire, the right of the said Alan (who was, probably, father of 
the Henry Perot above named), showing an earlier connection between 
the two families.— Lansdowne MS., Brit. Mus. No. 269, p. 26. 



GENEALOGICAL AND HERALDIC NOTES. 307 

guess how the descendants of Manwin and Salomon 
are connected with those of Henry and Simon, or 
Ralph. We have shown the extinction of the latter 
line in the persons of the two Juliannas and the 
Rector of Otham. The male issue of the former 
failed nearly about the same period when Anne, sole 
daughter and heiress of Sir Nicholas de Sandwich, 
married one of the equally important, but little 
better known family of — 

SEPTVANS, alias hareleet.* 

This remarkable name is suggested by Mr. Mark 
Anthony Lower to be derived from a place called 
Septvas or Septvents {i.e. Seven winds) in Normandy ; 
but whatever may have been its origin, the corrup- 
tions of it exceed in number those of any other 
patronymic that we remember. In Latin, it is gene- 
rally rendered Septemvannis, and sometimes Septem- 
vallibus ; but in Norman Erench, or English, we 
find it written Setuans, Septvans, Septvaus, Seavaus, 
Sevanz, Sephans, Sevance, Sevaunces, Senantz, Cen- 
nants, and even Setwentz and Setwetz ! 



* We have purposely throughout this volume, except when quoting 
literally aucient documents or other writers, spelt this name H&xfleet, 
in conformity with that of the manor of Fleet, from which we believe 
it to have been taken, as asserted in one instance by Philipot, 
apparently from the information of the family, who, though they con- 
tinued nearly to the end of the seventeenth century to write both 
Flete and Harflete, occasionally in some of the later instances, signed 
themselves Har/^ee^e, in accordance with the progress of orthography. 

X 2 



308 A CORNER OP KENT. 

The name does not occur in Domesday, and the 
probability is that the earliest bearer of it in this 
country was the Robert de Septvans, husband of 
Emma, coheir of William Eitz Helte.* She is de- 
scribed as Emma de Septvans, of Aldington, which 
estate we find descend in the family, and where it 
would appear they were first seated in England. 

Emma had two sisters, Sibilla and Alicia. The 
former married Hugo de Ceriton,t and the latter 
Ansfrid de Caney. The husband of Emma was dead 
in 1180, and in 1185 his son Robert was found to be 
twelve years of age.:|: An Isilia de Septvans appears 
as a benefactress to St. John's Abbey, Colchester, § in 
the 12th century, who might have been the wife of 
the second Robert, who possessed property in Essex, 

* William Fitz Helte died shortly before twenty-sixth Henry II., 
1180; for, by the Pipe Roll of that year, we fibd that William de 
Ceriton and Ansfrid de Cani and Emma de Septuans rendered 
account of 100 marks to have the land of William Eitz Helte. 

t She appears to have remarried, before 1181, John Monaco, as in 
that year seventy shillings was paid in to the Treasury " de Johanna 
Monaco et Emma de Setuans," who in the last line of the entry is 
described as " uxorem ejus." In the same year William de Haga paid 
five marks for a jury of matrons to ascertain whether Emma de 
Septuans had borne a child (to her first husband) ; the object being to 
prove the heirship. In 1185 the sheriff renders an account of 
71s. and 5d. for Aldinton, the land of Emma de Setvans, and for 
60s. for Maplescamps, also her land; and in 1187 the sheriff makes 
his return for Aldinton, the heir to which is in the custody of the king. 

J Rot. de Dominabus. Emma was dead in 1187, and in the Plea 
RoU of the 9 th of John, 1216, she is called " avia Rob't de Septem- 
vannis." — Abbrev. of Pleas, p. 57. 

§ Morant's Essex. 



GENEALOGICAL AND HEEALDIC NOTES. 309 

two persons named Malger and E^ichard, receiving 
his rents for him during his minority, in Wigeberg, 
in that county.* In 1199 (tenth Eichard I.) a suit 
was brought against Robert de Septvans, then of 
full age, and Malger de Wigeberg, by Alicia, wife of 
Eobert de Newlond, and daughter of Avicia, the wife 
of Swainus or Swain, to recover 1^ hide of land in 
Wigeberg, now held by the said Malger. By the 
pleadings in this suit we learn that Alicia had an 
elder sister, in right of whom it would seem the 
defendants resisted the claim. Her name is not 
given, nor any affinity to the defendants implied ; 
but she must have been some near connection of one 
or both of them. Eobert the second was dead in or 
before the ninth of John, 1216, and was succeeded in 
his estates by his son, a third Robert, of whom 
Emma de Septvans is in that year described as the 
grandmother, t There is another family named in 
connection with Robert de Septvans the second, 
bearing the singular appellation of Ut Devers. In 
1205, sixth of John, there was a Pinal Concord be- 
tween Philippa de Ut Devers, petitioner, and Robert 
de Septvans, tenant, respecting an acre of land in 
Audington (Aldington), the right of the said Robert 

* " Robertus filius Robert! de Setvans est in custodia Domini Regis 
et per eum in custodia Yicecomitis de Essex et est xij annorum. 
Terra sua de Wigeberga fait in manu Domini Regis elapso 1 anno 
ab Epiphania. Malger et Ricardus receperunt inde firmam ij termino- 

rum Postea commisit Yicecomes terram illam Rogero 

Preposito pro xi libras, &c." — Rot. de Dominabus. 

t Rot. Cur. Reg. sub anno. 



310 A CORNER OP KENT. 

and his heirs,* and in the sixth Henry III., another 
between Fhilijp de Utdevers (the son, it may be, of 
Philippa) and the third "Robert de Sevans," for 
apparently the same land in Aldington to which he 
had then succeeded. t There is also a charter of 
this Philip Utdevers, who, with the consent of his 
wife, and Osbert, his son, '' remits 10s. to the canons 
of Begeham, which they owed for the land of 
Blachinden."J In the eighth of Henry III., Hugh 
de Scerpton is the petitioner and Robert de Septuans 
the defendant in a Pinal Concord respecting half the 
manor of Aldington, the right of Robert and his 
heirs. 

We know of nothing more that can at present 
throw any further light upon this third Robert save 
that he died thirty-third of Henry III., A.D. 1249, 
seized of Aldington, Whelmstone, and Milton, was 
buried at Lid, and left a widow Matilda, who was 
living in 1253 ;§ and a son Robert, aged nearly forty 
at the time of the inquisition, to succeed him. This 



* Lansdowne MS., Brit. Mus. No. 269. 

t LaDsdowne MS., No. 269. 

X MS. Coll. Arms, R 27, Kent. Finis Levatt. in Cur. Eeg. 

§ In the 15th of Henry III., 1238, there was a Final Concord 
between Isabella de Septvans and Mabilia, daughter of Gilbert de St. 
Ledger, respecting fifteen acres of land at Lidd and Bromhill, held by 
Stephen de Ospringe, the right of the said Isabella. Who was she ? — 
one of the St. Ledgers who had married a Septvans ? The widow 
of the second Robert, or the wife of his grandson, the fourth Bobert ? 
who would have been about five-and-twenty at that period, and 
certainly had a wife named Isabella. 



GENEALOGICAL AND HERALDIC NOTES. 311 

Robert, the fourth of the name at present known, 
survived his father only four years, dying thirty- 
seventh of Henry III., 1253, when it was found that 
he had a wife Isabella, and a son Eobert, three years 
of age. 

By the pedigrees, it would appear that he also left 
a daughter named Joan, who married John Lord 
Cobham; whether older than her brother E^obert or not 
we have no means at present of ascertaining ; we are 
also in the dark as to the families of the two widows 
Matilda and Isabella, co-existing in 1253. Segar, 
in the MS. copy of his Baronage, recently purchased 
by the College of Arms, has a note to the effect that 
Joan Septvans, Lady Cobham, was coheir of Bose, 
widow of Sir Stephen Penchester.* Now Bose was 
the daughter of Hawisia de Beseville, living in 1270, 
and was not the widow but the first wife of Stephen 
de Penchester, who married secondly Margaret, daugh- 
ter of John de Burgh, who survived him and married 
John de Oreby. Bose had a sister Johanna de 
Beseville, also living 1270 ; and Stephen de Penchester 
had a daughter named Joan, aged forty, second of 
Edward IL, 1309, t and the wife of Henry Cobham 
at Bensdale. 



* Banks also calls her "coheir to Hose, the widow of Stephen 
de Pencestre" (vol. ii. p. 104). 

t Date of escheat of " Margaret uxor Stephen de Pencester." — 
(Philipot, 4, P.E.) But query, had not Stephen a third wife j for we 
find in the same MS., under the 18th of Edward II., Johanna uxor 
Stephen de Pencester. 



312 A CORNER OF KENT. 

By that calculation she must have been born in 
1269, and therefore the daughter of Eose, and not of 
Margaret, as asserted ; but even correcting these two 
material errors does not enlighten us as to the connec- 
tion of Joan Septyans with E^ose de Penchester. 

Let us proceed a little further. 

Sir Robert de Septyans, fifth in succession, born, as 
we haye found, in 1250, died thirty-fourth Edward I., 
1306, and was buried at Chartham. Of this E-obert 
there are many notices in the parliamentary writs,* but 
nothing to throw light on his genealogy. Philipot in 
his pedigree, marked Annulet, p. 37, marries him to 

a daughter of Aldon. It is quite possible that 

he might haye married one of that family ; but a 
curious piece of information is supplied by a Pine 
Eoll of the twenty-second of Edward L, 1294. We 
find therein that he had married Johanna, widow 
of E/ichard le Wallies, in contempt of the king's 
authority. 

Who this Johanna was by birth, howeyer, we haye 
not been able to ascertain, nor whether she was the 
mother of his children. His son William was found 
to be "twenty-five years of age and upwards" at 
his father's death in 1306. He must, therefore, have 
been born at the latest in 1281 ; but we do not know 
when the marriage of Robert with Johanna took 
place, but only that she was dead in 1294. 

We are half inclined to believe that a mistake of 

* He was knight of the shire, returned for Parliament 18th and 
30th of Edward I, 1290 and 1302. 



GENEALOGICAL AND HERALDIC NOTES. 313 

one generation has been made respecting Joan Lady 
Cobham, that the last two Roberts de Septvans 
have been confounded, and that the wife of John 
Lord Cobham was daughter, not of the third, but 
of the fourth Eobert by this Johanna le Wallies. 
Whether. or not, she was Johanna, sister of Rose de 
Beseville, unmarried in 1270, which would allow 
twenty-four years for her to become wife and widow 
of Richard le Wallies, wife of Robert de Sept- 
vans, and mother at least of Joan Lady Cobham, 
can only be ascertained by further inquiry. Philipot, 
who asserts that his pedigree was compiled from 
family evidences, was clearly ignorant of this match. 
If, as he sets down, the last Sir Robert de Septvans 
married a daughter of Aldon, either before his mar- 
riage with Johanna le Wallies, or after her death in 
1294, she was most probably the daughter of Elias 
de Aldon, by Christiana de Heringode, and sister of 
Sir Thomas de Al(Jon, w'ho married Elizabeth, 
daughter of Geoffrey de Say ; but the pedigrees of 
Aldon are silent, as usual, respecting daughters, and 
we have, therefore, no baptismal name to assist our 
speculations. 

To return to facts. Sir Robert, born in 1250, mar- 
ried one of the aforesaid ladies some time previous 
to 1281, in which year at the latest, we find his eldest 
son, William, w^as born, being twenty-five and upwards 
at his father's death in 1306, and already married 

to Elizabeth, daughter of Pimpe, of Pimpe's 

Court, Esq., in the county of Kent. 



314 A CORNER OF KENT. 

Immediately upon his succession to his father's 
estates he appears to have had a settlement with a 
Eyohert de Septvans respecting a messuage and two 
carrucates of land in Lidd and Bromhill. The same 
E^obert de Septvans, we presume, holding two knights' 
fees in Wigberg, county of Essex, some nine years 
later. 

What relation this Kobert was to William does 
not appear. He may have been his brother; but 
not being so designated, it is more probable that 
he was a cousin. Down to this point we have no 
collateral descent recorded, or any trace of one ; yet 
it is not likely that the four E^oberts should all have 
been only sons.* 

Sir William Septvans, of Milton, for he was 
knighted, and is so described, was sheriff of Kent 
14th and 15th of Edward II., and died 16th of same 
reign, 1323, leaving by his wife, Elizabeth Pimpe, 
William, his eldest son, aged twenty-two and upwards 
at that date, John, Symkin or Simon, and Robert. 
No daughters are mentioned. John married a 
daughter of Hoger Manston, of Manston Court, Isle 
of Thanet, and had issue, of which anon. Robert 
was priest and parson of St. Poter's, Sandwich, where 
he was buried. Of Simon, or Symkin, as he is indif- 
ferently called, we have no information we can rely 

* In the old Koll of Arms, temp. Edward I., already quoted, are 
the arms of a Robert de Septvans, — Azure, 3 faDS, or, differenced by 
nine cross crosslets of the second, 3, 3, 2, and 1 ; evidently that of a 
younger brother or collateral. 



GENEALOGICAL AND HERALDIC NOTES. 315 

upon. We will return to him presently ; but must 
first clear ofP the descent from his brothers. Sir 
William and John. 

William (second of that name)* is set down in 
some of Philipot's Pedigrees as the husband of Maud, 
sole daughter and heir of Sir Theobald de Twitham, 
Lord of Twitham in Ash ; but no actual authority is 
quoted, or can be found, for this marriage. On the 
other hand, we have official documents, showing that 
he left a widow named Elizabeth, to whom his son 
William was next heir. In the first place, there is 
the post-mortem inquisition, showing that William 
Septemvannis died 25th of Edward III., 1351, and 
that William, his son, was at that time aged five 
years and upwards. We have next the inquisition 
taken at Canterbury on the Saturday next after the 
Eeast of St. Andrew, 30th of Edward III., 1356,— 
*' Post mortem Eliz. de Seyvance," in which the 
jurors say that she held for life the manor of Milton ; 
that she died on Wednesday, the Eeast of the 
Apostles St. Simon and St. Jude, in the year aforesaid ; 
that William, son of William de Seyvance, is next 
heir of the said Elizabeth, and that the said heir is 

* It does not appear that he was ever knighted, though set down 
as " Sir William " in the Pedigrees. He was summoned as " Wilhel- 
mus de Setzvans, ^man at arms' to attend the great council of 
Westminster, on Wednesday next after Ascension day, 30*^ May, 
17 Ed. 2^1.," and as "William de Sevanns," appointed with others to 
blockade the sea-coast from Bromhill to Dengemarsh, for the purpose 
of preventing the landing of emissaries from France, 19 Edward II.— 
Vide Parliamentary Writs under those dates. 



316 A CORNER OP KENT. 

aged fifteen years. Thirdly, on the 1st of November, 
1364 (38th of Edward III.), another inquisition was 
taken at Canterbury, ** post mortem " the same 
^' Elizabeth, who was wife of William Sevance, de- 
ceased," when the jurors say that she held no lands 
" in capite," but that she held for term of life the 
manor of Milton with William de Sevance, late her 
husband, deceased, of the heirship of William, son of 
the late William, deceased, who held in capite, being 
within (under) age, and in custody of the king. 
*' That said Elizabeth died Thursday, on the Eeast of 
St. Simon and St. Jude, An° 30 of the king that 
now is ; and they say that William de S. is son and 
heir of the said William, and of the age of twenty- 
one years and more." It will be observed that in 
none of these inquisitions is "William, son of Wil- 
liam de Sept vans," called also the son of Elizabeth, 
but only her next heir.* That he was her son, how- 
ever, there can be little doubt, from the singular 
proceedings which took place in 1366, fortieth of 



* It is singular that none of the records respecting this Elizabeth 
de Septvans enlighten us on the important point of her own family. 
We are inclined however to believe that she was by birth a Darrell. 
In Le Neve's Church Notes, so often quoted by us, we find that in the 
windows of St. John's Hospital at Canterbury there were the figures 
of a lady and a knight kneeling on cushions, underwritten " Orate 
p. anima W^ Septuan Militis et Eliz. ux^' ejus." The lady having on 
her mantle azure a lion rampant crowned, or ; and that at the -same 
period were to be seen in St. Alphage Church in the same city : 
azure a lion rampant, crowned, or, in conjunction with the arms of 
Septvans. 



GENEALOGICAL AND HERALDIC NOTES. 317 

Edward III.,* when an inquisition '' probatio etatis " 
was granted on the petition of William de Septvans, 
who had been " led away and counselled " by Sir 
Nicholas Loveyne, of Penshurst, and others named 
in the petition, " to alienate his lands and tene- 
ments" to them, he not being at that time of full age, 
as had been falsely represented. The result of this 
inquiry, held before John de Cobham, Thomas de 
Lodelowe, and William Waure, at Canterbury, was 
the proof that the petitioner was not even then of 
age, and would be only '' twenty years, and no more, 
on the Peast of St. Augustine the Doctor next 
coming;" and the grounds on which they came to 
this decision was, that many of the knights and 
esquires on this inquest f were with the Earl of 
Huntingdon when the King (Edward III.) was at 
Caen (20th of July, 1346), and that the said Earl of 
Huntingdon returned to England to be cured of a 
malady which he had, and William de Septvans, father 
of the infant, was in the retinue of the Earl, and 
returned to England with him, at which time they 

* The letters patent were dated " 13*^ of April, in the fortieth 
year of our reign," the King being then at Rushingdon, a manor in 
Minster, Isle of Sheppy. 

t These twelve " knights and squires " were Sir John de North- 
wode, Sir Thomas Apuldrefield, Sir Thomas Chiche, Sir Richard at 
Lese, Sir John de Brockhull, John Barry, William Apuldrefield, 
Thomas Colepepper, Henry Apuldrefield senior, Henry Aucher, Fulk 
Payforer, and Geoffrey Colepepper; all Kentish worthies, many of 
whom we learn were at the taking of Caen and the surrender 
of Calais. 



318 A CORNER OF KENT. 

found the wife of the said William pregnant of the 
said infant. That the Earl of Huntingdon went 
away to Poplar in order to have his physicians handy 
from London, and made the countess * live at Pres- 
ton (a parish adjacent to Ash), in order to be god- 
mother of the child when it should be born; that 
the infant was born on the day of St. Austin the 
Doctor, next after (28th of August, 1346) ; and that 
William, abbot of St. Austin's, and Thomas de 
Aldon the elder, both since deceased, were godfathers 
of the said infant, and the Countess of Huntingdon 
godmother ; and very soon after the earl was cured, 
and returned to Erance, and came to the siege of 
Calais, and William de Septvans with him ; and the 
said William told his companions, who were sworn on 
this inquest, how since his departure from them God 
of His grace had so visited him, that he had sent 
him a son, &c. 

We have abridged this account from the docu- 
ments which are printed in extenso in the 1st volume 
of the Archseologia Cantiana, to which excellent work 
we refer those who need further particulars, our 
object being only to show that William de Septvans 
was born 28th of August, 1346, and must certainly, 
therefore, have been the child of Elizabeth, widow of 

"^ This was the celebiated Julianna de Leyborne, countess of 
Huntingdon, of whom we have spoken so often. The inventory of 
her goods at her ^^ House at Preston " is published with her will and 
various other interesting particulars in the Archaeologia Cantiana, 
vol. i. 



GENEALOGICAL AND HERALDIC NOTES. 319 

the elder William, in 1351, when his heir was cor- 
rectly found to he five years of age. Most pro- 
vokingly, however, neither her name nor that of her 
family is mentioned in the ahove minute particulars. 
It is important, also, to call attention to the fact that 
no other issue is alluded to ; and as William de 
Septvans returned to Prance shortly after his wife's 
confinement, the probabilities are that his son William 
was an only child, whereas a brother, named John, 
has been given to him in the pedigrees, from 
whom descended the Septvans, alias Harfleets, of 
Holland and Checquer. We must clear off this direct 
line first. 

Sir William de Septvans (third of that name), 
Knt., was sheriff of Kent, and married Elizabeth, 

daughter of Boteler, of Woodhall, co. Hertford. 

He died in 1407, and was buried at Christ Church, 
Canterbury, under a flat stone in the middle aisle, 
with his arms and those of his wife, and the following 
epitaph : — 

'' Icy gist Guliam Sepvanus chevalier qui morust le Darnier jour 
D'Aust L'an de Grace m.ccccvu. de quele Alme Deux eit pite et 
mercy Ame." 

Sir William Septvans left by his wife Elizabeth 
Boteler, who survived him,* a son, named after 
him William, who was also knighted, and married 

* She was living in 1448, and had remarried with Sir Eichard 
Welsted, Kt. 



320 A CORNER OP KENT. 

Elizabeth, daughter of Sir John Peche,* and died 
March Mh, 1448-9, being closely followed to the 
grave by his widow, who died only twenty-four days 
after him, as we learn from his epitaph, formerly in 
Christ Church, Canterbury, where they were buried 
close to his father the sheriff. 

"Sub lioc marmore jacent corpora Willi Sepuans, militis qui obijfc 
quarto die Martij, Anno Dni 1448, et Elizabethse uxoris ejus filise 
Johanis Pecbe militis quae obiit 28 die mensis Martii quorum anima- 
bus propitietur Deus, Amen." 

They had issue but one child, Elizabeth, who 
married Sir William Eogg, of E^epton, near Ashford, 
and thus ended the name of Septvans in the eldest 
line of the family. We must now return to the 
issue of John, son of the first William de Septvans 
by Elizabeth Pimpe, and husband of a daughter of 
Koger Mansion. By her he had John Septvans, of 
St. Laurence and Sittingbourne, and a daughter 
named Joan, who became the wife of Sir John 
Leverick, of Ash. 

John Septvans, of Sittingbourne, married Constance 
St. Nicholas ; but which of that family was her father 
has not yet been discovered. It is only stated that 
he was of Thanet. No such name as Constance is to 
be found in the pedigrees or wills of the St. Nicholas' ; 
but her husband is said to have been lord of the manor 



* The singular fact of four successive Williams de Septvans 
marrying eacb a wife named Elizabeth, increases the usual difficulties 
and confusion to be found in such researches. 



GENEALOGICAL AND HERALDIC NOTES. 321 

of Upper Hall, whicli came to the family of St. 
Nicholas through the Goshalls.* By this Constance 
he had two sons and two daughters, John, Thomas, 
Constance, and Susan. John Septvans was Esquire 
of the Body to King Henry YI., and died Dec. 18th, 
1458, apparently without issue by his wife, Katharine, 
who survived him and married, as it has been sup- 
posed, secondly, Wigmore, and thirdly, Martin of 
Graven ey,t and dying in 1498, desired to be buried 
with her former husband, John Septvans, at Ash. 
We have gone so fully into the question of this lady's 
family (presumed to be Kirton), in our last chapter 
(pp. 218 — 224), that we need not dwell upon it here, 
further than to express our doubt of the accuracy of 
the statement that she married, secondly, "Wigmore. 
The '' John Wigmore" she calls her son died 26th of 
October, 1492, and the name of ^^Editha consortis suae," 
has been singularly omitted in Weever's copy of the 

* Philipot. Yi 11. Cant. "We know from the will of Katherine, wife 
of John, the son of this Constance, that he founded the Chantry of 
the Upper Hall in St. Nicholas Church, Ash, but we question the 
manor descending from the Coshalls. Lewis (Hist. Thanet) tells us 
that Upper Court was so called to distinguish it from Nether Court, 
which belonged to the Goshalls, and that it was formerly a part of 
the estate of the family of Criol, in which it continued till the latter 
end of the reign of Henry YI., when it was passed away by Sir 
Thomas Criol to John White, Esq., who died seized of it ninth of 
Edward lY. If this descent of the property be correct, we cannot 
see when or how Upper Court or Hall, as it was indifferently called, 
came to either St. Nicholas or Septvans before 1458. 

t "Orate Johannis Martin Arm. qui obiit ultimo Octob. 1479." — 
Mon. Inscrip., Graveney, Weever's Mon., p. 282. 

Y 



322 A CORNER OF KENT. 

monumental inscription at Paversham, but preserved 
by Lewis in his History of that place, p. 19.* It is, 
therefore, more probable that the "Edythe Wygmere" 
she calls her daughter was, in point of fact, her own 
child, either by Septvans or Martyn, and John 
Wygmere, the husband of Edith, her son iit laiv. 
Both could not be her own issue, and the distinction 
we nowadays make is of very recent origin. In 
Graveney church we are told that the arms of Martin 
impaling those assigned to Kirton were in a window 
by the north door, and the figure of a woman by it 
kneeling. t This is conclusive as far as the match 
with Martin goes, and we have shown that a similar 
proof existed in Ash church, in 1760, of the match 
with Sept vans ; but where have we such a corrobora- 
tion of the match with Wigmore ? In Mr. Streat- 
field's interleaved copy of Hasted it is true there is 
a drawing of a shield, Wigmore impaling Kirton, 
placed in conjunction with two others, displaying 
Septvans and Martyn, with similar impalements ; but 
no authority is quoted, and we are inclined to believe 
that it was only drawn in accordance with the re- 
ceived opinion that Wigmore was her second husband. 
Of this we humbly submit we have no proof, and that 

* Orate pro animabus Johannes Wygmore generosus qnondam 
socii de Gray's Inn et Editha eousortis suse et omnium filiariim 
suarum ac Ricardi filii ejus qui quidem Johannis obiit xxvi die 
mensis Octobris Anno Domini millessimo ccccxcij, quorum animabus 
propicietur Deus Amen." On a brass plate fastened on a flat stone ; 
no arms mentioned. 

t Philipot's Church Notes, Harleian MSS. Brit. Mus., No. 3917. 



GENEALOGICAL AND HERALDIC NOTES. 323 

the evidence adduced in its favour is fairly open to 
the interpretation we have given to it. 

To return to our genealogy. Thomas is marked as 
son and heir hy Philipot, and may, therefore, have 
been the elder brother of John : he died before him, 
however, and unmarried, or at least without issue, 
31st of Henry YI., 1453. Susan married Sir Henry 
Hardress, Knt., and Constance became a nun, and 
eventually Abbess of Minster in Sheppey. Thus 
terminated this line of the family of Septvans. 

We have now to affiliate another John Septvans, 
the husband of Anne de Sandwich, and progenitor of 
that prolific branch of the family afterwards assuming 
the name of Harfleet. This John Septvans is, both 
by Philipot and by Hasted, who has followed him 
without comment or investigation, made in some 
places the son of Sir William Septvans, who died in 
1351, and in others of Sir William's brother, Simon 
or Symkin ; in each case his mother is said to have 
been Maud de Twitham, who, with equal impartiality 
is made daughter of Theobald, and daughter of Alan 
de Twitham, and married to William in one pedigree, 
and to Simon in another.* Hasted under Meopham 
(Hist. Kent, vol. i.) very circumstantially informs 
US, that Theobald died seized of that manor, 4th of 
Eichard II., without issue, leaving Maud, his only 
daughter, heir to his large possessions in this country, 
all of which she carried in marriage to Simon Sept- 

* Philipot's MS. Coll. Arms, marked Annulet. 
Y 2 



324 A CORNER OF KENT. 

vans, a younger branch of the Septvans of Milton, 
&e., quoting Philipot, and Avhat is of more im- 
portance, ''Rot. JEsch. sub anno'' He then adds, 
Simon had by Maud a son, Sir William de Septvans, 
whose son John married Constance, daughter of 
Thomas Ellis, Esq., of Sandwich, &c., &c.* 

We would not bewilder our readers with this mass of 
error and confusion, were there not glimpses of truth 
to be seen through it which may greatly assist our 
inquiries. The glaring inaccuracies and contradic- 
tions of Philipot's statements which had been so 
complacently copied by Hasted without a note of 
interrogation, induced us to rely with more confidence 
on an elaborate pedigree by the former, compiled 
apparently from family documents, and certified by no 
less a personage than Camden Clarenceux.f In this 
pedigree, Maud de Twitham is definitively married to 
Sir William Septvans, and made the mother of Sir 
William the Sheriff, and of the John Septvans in 
question. We have, however, shown a few papers 
back, that Sir William the Sheriff, about whose age 
so much dispute occurred, must have been the son of 
Elizabeth, who survived his father, and of whom he 
is found to be the heir, and that the peculiar circum- 
stances of the case render it improbable that he had any 
brother. In the will of the Sheriff, proved October 4th, 



* Philipot's MS. Coll. Arms, marked Mascle, and Yillare Can- 
tianum, page 235. 

t Philipot's MS., marked Annulet, ut supra. 



GENEALOaiCAL AND HERALDIC NOTES. 325 

1407, no mention is made of a brother John ; but, 
in the curious proceedings above alluded to, we find 
that amongst the lands illegally alienated by William 
while under age and before 1364, was the Manor 
of Promhull (Bromhill) in the County of Kent, which 
he had of the gift and feoffment of Eichard de Alesle, 
Rector of the Church of Harrietsham, on which was a 
rent-charge of ten pounds per annum for life to John 
Septyans: but no hint as to his affinity. We now 
come to another curious piece of evidence which has 
hitherto, we believe, escaped observation. The earliest 
pedigree of the Septvans contained in the "Visitations 
(D. 13, Coll. Arm.), commences with John de Septvans, 
but does not say of whom he was the son.* The 
arms, however, which are drawn in trick, display 
azure, three winnowing fans, or (the old coat of the 
Septvans), differenced with a border chechy of the 
same. This is surely a strong corroboration of the 
statement which makes him the cousin instead of the 
brother of Sir William the Sheriff, and induces us, in 
conjunction with other evidence, to believe so far in 

* Nor whom he married. No wives are mentioued in the earlier 
portion of this Pedigree, which otherwise would have been so valu- 
able. The MS. is not, however, quite so old as presumed, at least 
this part of it. It is described as a visitation by Benolt Clarenceux, 
temp. Henry YIII., and the majority of the arms and pedigrees 
appear to be of that date ; but we shall show hereafter that this par- 
ticular genealogy of Septvans, at page 27 of the volume, could not 
have been entered before the sixth of Elizabeth, 1564, and it is 
evident that other entries have been made in several pages by a later 
hand. 



326 A CORNER OF KENT. 

that pedigree wMcli makes him the son of Simon by 
Maud de Twitham. All we hear of Simon is that he 
was living in the reign of Edward II. ; of Maud de 
Twitham we have found no trace. 

The EoU of 4th Richard 11., apparently quoted by 
Hasted in support of the statement of the marriage 
of Simon with Maud, daughter and heir of Theobald 
de Twitham, mentions neither of them. It is a mere 
repetition of the post mortem Inquisition of the 25th 
of Edward III., 1351, concerning the lands of Alan 
de Twitham, Lord of Twitham, and showing that Alan 
the son of Theobald de Twitham, son of the before - 
named Alan, is the nearest heir, and of the age of five 
years. It, however, proves this much in contradiction 
to the assertions of Philipot and Hasted, viz. : that 
Theobald did not die without male issue, and that if 
any Maud de Twitham became his heir, it must have 
been after the death of his son Alan, who was living 
1351, and nearest heir to his grandfather.* Of course 
it does not follow that he had not a sister or an aunt 
(for, as we have mentioned, she is sometimes called 
daughter of Theobald and sometimes of Alan), who 
was named Maud, and married Simon Septvans, and 
as we hear no more of young Alan, she or her issue 
might have inherited the whole of the property. 

* A valuation of the lands of the same Alan the son of Theobald, 
also appears in the Escheats of the nineteenth and twentieth of 
Kichard II., 1396-97, as we have already stated at j)age 93, but 
neither seems to be an inquisition on the death of Alan, who, if 
living at that period, would have been only fifty. 



GENEALOGICAL AND HERALDIC NOTES. 32? 

That some such circumstance did occur is evident by 
the descendants of John de Septvans, quartering the 
coat of Twitham, and the same fact tends to substan- 
tiate our statement, that William the Sheriff was not 
the son of Maud de Twitham, as no such quartering 
is to be found in the arms of that branch of the 
family. 

John Septyans, son, as we believe, of Simon by 
Maud de Twitham, married Anne, daughter and heir 
of Sir Nicholas de Sandwich. And now we arrive at 
a period when our researches are assisted by several 
important documents, for the copies of which we are 
indebted to Philipot, who has appended them to one of 
his Pedigrees of Septvans.* 

We shall give them in chronological order, and in 
support of the various points as they arise. 

The first we shall quote is the earliest in date, and 
is a deed of gift by Thomas Loverick, Esq., to Gilbert, 
son of John Sepuans, of Cheker in Ash, Co. Kent, 
Esq., of three acres of land in Ash aforesaid, dated 
10 day of May, 44th of Edward III. (a.d. 1370), and 
the witnesses are John Sepuans, Esquire, John at 
MoUand, Thomas, Adam, Nicholas at Children 
(Chilton?), John and Thomas Eoger, Hamon de 
Strigula, and many others. t 

* MS. Coll. Arm. marked "Mascle," p.^8, and headed, "The 
profe for the changinge the name of Sepuans toe Cheker, and from 
Cheker toe Harflete, appereth in these evidences." 

t " Sciant presenter, &c., quod ego Thoma Loverick armiger dedi, 
&c. Gilberto filio Johis Sepuans de Cheker in Ashe in com Cantij 



328 A CORNER OP KENT. 

The second is a similar grant by John Diggs to 
John Sepuans, of two acres and a half of land lying 
below Checquer Court (''sub cur del Escheker"), 
dated 2nd of Eichard II. (a.d. 1379), witnessed by 
Gilbert at Cheker.* 

The third is a gift (we presume in trust) by John 
Septuans to Gilbert Alflete and John Gray, of all the 
lands he had in Ash, dated the day of St. Barnabas 
the Apostle, 17th of Richard II. (a.d. 1394).t These 
three documents show that John Septvans of Checquer 
in Ash, Esq., was living in 1394, and had a son, 
Gilbert, who we shall find succeeded him in that pro- 
perty. Philipot also gives him a daughter Emma, 
who married Sir William Leverick, as we have stated 
at page 96. John Septvans of Checquer died, we 
presume, shortly after the execution of the above 
deed. At all events, he was dead in 1399, when the 
fourth document shows that "William and Thomas of 
Holland in Eshe (Ash) gave to Gilbert Sepuans, alias 



Armigeri tres acras terrse mee, jacent in Ash p'"dic. Data apud 
Ash pMic 10 die mensis Maij anno 44 regni Edwardi tertij. Hijs 
Testibus Johane Sepuans Armigero, Johanne at Holland, Thome, 
Adam, Nicholas at Childern, Johanne et Thome Rogero, Hamone 
de Strigula, et multis alijs." Seal obliterated. 

* "Sciant presentes et futuri quod ego Johannes Diggs dedi Johanni 
Sepvans duas acras et dimid terre iacent sub cur del Escheker," 
Data ij Richard 2^^^ Hijs testibus Gilbert© at Cheker et multis 
alijs. 

+ Sciant, &c., quod ego Johes Sepuans dedi, &c., Gilberto Alflete 
et Johanni Gray omnes illas terras quod habui in Ash, Data die 
S**^ Barnabi Aposti. 17 Richardi secundi, 



GENEALOGICAL AND HERALDIC NOTES. 329 

"at Cheker," half an acre of land lying at Small- 
brooke in Eshe aforesaid,* the lands of William and 
Thomas aforesaid, to the West, and the lands of the 
heirs of William E^oger to the North, and the lands 
of the said Gilbert to the South, and the lands of 
the heirs of John Septvans to the East, Given at 
Eshe aforesaid 22nd of Eichard II., a.d. 1399.t 
This completely settles the question as to John 
Septvans being at the Siege of Harfieur with Henry 
v., in 1415 ; and supposing him to be the John 
Septvans who had a rent-charge on Bromhill in 1366, 
it is clear he had a son Gilbert past infancy, if not of 
full age in 1370, and must therefore have been born 
some time previously to Sir William the Sheriff, yet 
certainly not his elder brother. 

Besides Gilbert, John had two other sons, J named 
John and Thomas, amongst whom his property is said 
to have been thus divided : — To John, called the 
eldest, he gave Hills or Helles, Twitham, Chilton, and 

* Qiiere, Swallow brook ? vide will of Stephen Hongham, cited 
at page 5S, 

t " Sciant presentes et futuri quod nos WillilTs et Thomas de 
Holland in Eshe dedimus, etc. Gilbert© Sepuans als atte Cheker 
dimidium acram terre jacentum q apud Smallbrooke in Eshe p^ diet 
terris Willi et Thome pMic versus west et terris hered^ Willi E-oger 
versus north et terris dicti Gilberti versus south et terris Hered^ 
Johannis Sepuans versus Est. Data apud Eshe p'' die 22 Kegni 
Kegis Ricdi secundi." No seal. 

X "John Sepvans, of the maner of Cheker, in the county of Kent, 
Esquire, marrid and had yssue John SepvanSj his eldyst sone, 
Thomas seconde w^ died bothe sans yssue ; Gilbert, third sone, 
succeeded." D. 13 Coll. Arms. 



330 A CORNER OF KENT. 

MoUand in Ash, and other lands in Kent. Thomas, 
second son, had Dean Court, in Meopham, and other 
lands ; and Gilbert his manor of Checquer, in Ash.* 
As we have sufficient evidence of the last fact, in the 
grant we have just quoted, we may fairly give cre- 
dence to the other portion of the statement professing 
to be drawn from family sources at a time when the 
lineal descendants were in possession of the estates 
aforesaid. John and Thomas, we are told, died 
without issue, whether married or unmarried we 
know not. Their portions probably reverted to Gil- 
bert, the sole surviving son, who, by Constance, 
daughter and coheir of Thomas Ellis, of Sandwich, 
Esq., had three sons,t Thomas, Edward, and John, 
and one daughter, Margaret. This Constance has 
been confounded with Constance St. Nicholas, who 
married John Septvans, of St. Lawrence and Sitting- 
bourne, by some writers, and is made the wife of her 
father-in-law, John of Ash, in one of Philipot's 
pedigrees. After the death of her husband, Gilbert, 
she married, secondly, John Notbeam, of Ash. Gil- 
bert was living in 1416, when he executed a testa- 
mentary document, the fifth of those copied by 
Philipot, wliich is to this effect :~As Gilbert de 

* Philipot and Yiocent's " Kent." Coll. Arm. 

t The Visitation, D. 13. Coll. Arms, only names Thomas. "Gilbert 
Sepvance, thirde sone to John Sepvance, was called Gilbert Atcheker 
als Harfleure, who niarrj^ed and had yssue Thomas." He is after- 
wards, however, called "eldyst sone and heire to Gilbert," indicating 
that there was otbcr issue. 



GENEALOGICAL AND HERALDIC NOTES. 331 

Cheker, he confirms a charter of the same date 
infeoffing Sir Thomas Monketon, chaplain, and John 
Churchgate, of the parish of Ash, in all his arable 
lands, on condition that the said Thomas, the chaplain, 
and John shall, after his death, give his wife seizin 
and possession of forty-one acres, the same number 
of acres to his son Thomas, two acres to Margaret 
Armys,(?) and one acre to the chantry of Ash, the 
residue of his goods and arable lands to remain in the 
possession of his executors. Dated 20th of September, 
fourth of Henry V. (A.D. 1416)/^ 

"We are here met by a most serious contradiction. 
In one of Vincent's MSS., Coll. Arms, No. 145, is 
this note : — " This Gilbert was called Gilbert Septvans, 
alias Cheker, as appearith by a dede dated eighth 
Henry lY. He was also called Gilbert Harflete by the 
last will of Joane, his wife, dated 1432, Ao. 11. 6, xi., 
and by the said will the sayd Johan did make Thomas, 
her son, her executor." 

* Omnibus presentes literas visuris vel auditur salutem. Cum 
ego Gilbertus de Cheker 20 die Septemb carta meam de feodo 
confirmavi Dno Tlio Monketon Capellano et Jolii ChurcLgate de 
Parocbia de Ash omnes terras meas arabiles ut p^ die carta evidencis 
apparet sub toti tamen condicione qd p'" die Tho Capellanus et 
Johis post mortem meum p conffestum reddant uxori mei seissinam 
et possessionem xli acr. Item qd reddant Thorn se filio meo xli acr 
Item qd reddant Margarete Armijs (?) sessinam diiar acrse. Item 
qd reddant Cantuarise de Eshe seissinam unius acrse. Kesiduum 
omnem honorz mearz terraz Arabiliu qd dimittant in possessiorie 
Excecutorm mearz in cuis res Testimonium sigillum meum appossui. 
Dat 20 Septembris, 4^° Regis Henrici quinti." Sealed with 3 
vans. 



332 A CORNER OF KENT. 

This is terribly circumstantial, and unfortunately 
Gilbert, in the above disposition of his property, 
simply says "uxori mei," without the addition of her 
name ; but there is pretty sufficient evidence that his 
widow, Constance Ellis, remarried with John or 
"William [N'otbeame, of Ash, by whom she had a 
daughter, Alice, married to Eichard Exherst, of Ash, 
and the arms of Ellis, of Sandwich, are quartered 
next to those of Sandwich in the escutcheons of the 
Harfleets, their immediate descendants. We could 
find no will of a Joan Septvans in the Prerogative 
Court at Canterbury, and though we do not doubt 
that Vincent had knowledge of such an instrument, 
yet, as he does not give us a copy of it, we feel con- 
fident that there is some confusion either of names 
or persons. There may have been a Gilbert Harfleet 
living (circa) 1432 who had a wife Joan and a son 
Thomas.* We have often wondered that the name of 
Gilbert did not reappear at all in the pedigree. There 
is nothing in Vincent's note to identify the husband 
of Joan with the Gilbert Septvans alias Cheker " of 
the deed of the eighth of Henry IV., A.D. 1407," 
who was at that time the husband of Constance. We 
have no very positive evidence respecting the issue of 

* Thomas At Chequer, alias Harfleet, in his will proved 1559-60, 
mentions a "Joan Harflete, widow," who late held certain premises in 
Ash street for the term of her life, but unfortunately does not say 
of whom she was the widow. The word "late," however, would 
indicate a more recent date than 1432, that of the will of the Joan 
in question. 



GENEALOGICAL AND HERALDIC NOTES. 333 

Gilbert, except that of his having a son Thomas. A son 
John is named by Philipot, and a son Edward,* who 
had a daughter named after her grandmother Con- 
stance, by Vincent. t There might have been a fourth 
son named after his father Gilbert, of whom this is 
the only record, and who at the same time, with his 
elder brother Thomas, assumed the name of Harfleet ; 
for here again we are helped by Philipot, who appends 
to his ^*profes" above quoted this note: — ''Thomas, 
the Sonne of Gilbert Sepuans (who tooke the name of 
the manner of y^ Clieker), loste that name after it was 
sould to Mr. Aldy, and wrote himself in all his deeds 
Thomas at Clieker alias Harflete ; and soe it continued 
till Sir Thomas Harflete' s father, who revived the 
name of Sepuans, and Sir Thomas aforesaid hath 
bought the manner of y^ Cheker againe ; and it is to 

* In the Prerog. Off., Cant,, is the will of an Edward Sept vans, 
" Armiger" of Canterbury (9*^ of Sep^', 1465), in which he leaves all 
his goods to his wife, Benedicta, and makes her executrix with 
William Lynnch (?) and Thos. Arnold. If the son of Gilbert, he 
must have died "vita patris." An Edward Septvans is named in 
the will of John Notbeame of Rucking, March 4, 1400, who 
bequeaths to him six spoons, at the same time he leaves to William 
Septvans K*, various articles of plate and seven of his best silver 
spoons, making him residuary legatee and executor of his will in 
conjunction with his own brother William Notbeame and Stephen 
Wynder. Isabella, servant to said Edward Septvans, is also men- 
tioned in the will. 

t No. 123, Coll. Arms, and Philipot 26, they also give Gilbert a 
daughter named Margaret, who married William Falcocke, according 
to Philipot, and is made " uxor Barton " by Yincent. Was she the 
Margaret Armys (?) mentioned by Gilbert in his will above 
quoted ? 



334 A COENEU OF KENT. 

be noted that they sealed with the Fanns, and fixed 
them on their monuments, which are most of them 
yet to be seene at Ash." 

In addition to this, he inserts in the Pedigrees 
accompanying "the proofs," ''Thomas Sepuans took 
the name of his manour of Plete, and called himself 
Harflete." Thus completely ignoring the whole story 
about the assumption of that name by John in con- 
sequence of deeds performed by him at the Siege of 
Harfleur, called Harfieet by the English. 

This Thomas, the eldest son of Gilbert of Checquer, 
married Alice, daughter of John Yaloynes, Esq., by 
whom he had two sons, Thomas and John,* and four 
daughters, Mary who married a Smith, Elizabeth who 

married Lancaster, Margaret wife of Walter 

Barton of Wingham Barton, t and Joan wife of 
Thomas Einneux, from whom Judge Einneux. 
Thomas, according to the Visitation D. 13 Coll. 
Arms, was the eldest son, but died without issue. | 
John the second son married Elorence, daughter and 
heir of John Clarke of Brayborne, Co. Kent, by a 
daughter of Engham of Chart. We have no record 
of the death of Thomas Harfleet, or of Alice his wife, 

* "Thomas Atcheker als Harflewe, eldyst sone and heire to 
Gilbert, marjed and had yssue Thomas, hys eldyst sone, John, second 
sone." D. 13. 

t There may be some confusion here between this Margaret, 
daughter of Thomas, and her aunt Margaret, daughter of Gilbert, as 
both are said to have married Barton. 

X "Thomas Atcheker, eldyst sone and heire to Thomas, died 
sans yssue." 



GENEALOGICAL AND HEUALDIC NOTES. 335 

but Vincent, in his '* Kent," No. 145, Coll. Arms, has 
this note : " It appears by a deed dated 32^^ of Henry 
6^\ that this John was the son of Thomas Sepvans, 
alias Harflete." It is probable therefore that Thomas 
was living 1458, as well as his son. The issne of John 
by .Florence Clarke is said to have been two sons, 
John and Christopher;* we hear of no daughters. 
John died without issue ; Christopher married Alice, 

daughter of Notbeame of Ash, and was dead in 

1488, for here again we enter the region of fact, as 
we have the will of his widow Alice, dated 16th of 
October in that year, beginning, "Y^ Dame Alice 
Septvans, the widow of Christopher Sept vans, Esq., 
late of the parish of Ay she beside Sandwich." In it 
she names the daughter of Edward Septvans, but does 
not give her Christian name, nor enlighten us as to the 
parentage of Edward. 

The only daughter of an Edward Septvans we have 
yet met with is Constance, daughter of Edward, son 
of Gilbert. It is possible she might be living in 
1488, but at a very advanced age. We cannot posi- 
tively identify that Edward with the Edward husband 
of Benedicta, whose will is dated in 1415, and from 
the fact of the latter being described as of Canterbury, 
we are inclined to think he may have been a younger 
son of Sir William the SherifiP, who is executor to the 
will of John Notbeame, in which Edward and his 

* "John Atcheker als Harflete, seconde sone to Thomas, and 
brother and heire to Thomas aforesaid, maryed and had yssue 
Xpher." D. 13. 



336 A CORNEE OF KENT. 

servant Isabella are remembered. In 1471, a Thomas 
Septyans of the parish of Worth bequeaths to 
Benedicta his mother for life an annuity of 6 marks, 
which the lady Septuans gave him out of the tenement 
called " Le Cheker," and the lands belonging to the 
same ; also his house at Newenton, remainder together 
with said annuity to be sold.* Was he the son of the 
Benedicta, widow of Edward ? There is nothing but 
the name to guide us. He leaves, however, to William 
Saye eleven shillings, and to John Saye '' fratre meo^^ 
a garden in the parish of Worth. By " my brother" 
he must mean either his mother's son by a former 
husband or his brother-in-law, for such a connection 
is constantly so called in documents of this period. 
He also leaves to Elizabeth, wife of William Leute of 
Sandwich, 3s. and 4d. No children are mentioned, 
but it by no means follows that he had none. 

There is no mention in any of the pedigrees or 
genealogical notices of any issue of Thomas Har- 
fleet by Alice Valoynes, except Thomas and John; 
nor of any of John by Elorence Clarke, except Chris- 
topher ; but the latter is called eldest son and heir of 
John, in the Visitation D. 13, thereby indicating other 
issue. t Christopher Harfleet had by Alicia at 
least two sons, Baymond and Boger, both living 
in 149f, when a "Thomas Harfleet" of Staj)le, 

* Prerog. Office, Canterbury. 

t "Xpher Atcheker als Harflete, eldyst sone and heire to Jolin, 
maryed and had issue Raymond, his eldj'st sone, Roger, his seconde 



i 



GENEALOGICAL AND HERALDIC NOTES. 337 

possessor of lands in the Hamlets of Chilton 
and Molland in Ash, wills to Isabella his wife 
all his lands and tenements for the term of her 
life, with remainder to Raymond Harfleet, in tail and 
remainder to E^oger, brother of the said Raymond ; 
dated Pebruary 14th, and proved the same year.'* 
He does not mention his own relationship to Roger 
and Raymond, but they seem to have been his next 
of kin, and he may have been their uncle, a younger 
brother of Christopher, t 

Of Roger we have the following evidence amongst 
Philipot's proofs : — " I, Roger Harflete, otherwise 
called Roger at Checker, son and one of the heirs of 
Christopher Harflete, otherwise called Christopher 
at Cheker, and Alice, formerly his wife, release 
Raymond Harflete also called Raymond at Cheker, 
my brother, in all the lands and tenements in 
Ashe. Dated 3rd of May, 24ith year of the reign 
of Henry yiL"t 

This Roger Harfleet is set down by Philipot as 



* Prerog. Office, Canterbury. 

t It was probably a daugliter of this Thomas of Staple who was 
the wife of Stephen Solly in 1509. 

J "Noverint &c. quod ego Rogerus Harflete als dictus Rogerus 
at Checker filius et unus heredem Christopheri Harflete alij dicti 
Christoferi atte Cheker et Alicii nuper uxoris ejus, remisisse 
Eaymondo Harflete also dicti Eaymondo atte Cheker fratre meo in 
omnibus terris et tenementis in Ashe. Data .3 Maij, 24 Regni 
Kegis Henrici Septimi." Henry YII. died in April, 1509, in the 
24^A year of his reign, commencing on the 23rd of August, 1508. 
It should therefore probably be the 23rd year. 

Z 



338 A COKNER OF KENT. 

leaving an only daughter named Agnes, married to 

" Stamble (Stumble), of Ash, father of James, 

father of Christopher,"* but we have no hint as to 
who was her mother. In the above grant of Eoger 
to Raymond he neither mentions wife nor daughter. 
With respect to the latter, we were in hopes the 
registers at Ash might throw some light on the 
subject ; our readers may therefore imagine our disap- 
pointment at finding among the burials in December, 

1570, " Stumble, widow, buried y® 4th," neither 

her own Christian name nor that of her husband ! 
We are consequently prevented identifying her with 
Agnes Harfleet, and so far corroborating Philipot's 
assertions. 

Eaymond Harfleet alias at Checquer, witnessed the 

* Pedigree Pbilipot, Annulet. The name was Stwmble as appears 
from the various registers at Ash, and the wills of James and 
Christopher. It is in no case written Stamble. James Stumble was 
of Woodnesborough. His will is dated 25th March, 1582, and was 
proved 1st April following, but unfortunately it contains no mention 
of the name of his father or mother. James Stumble married 
Christian Lee, October 21st, 1572. Christopher, son of James 
Stumble, baptized December 8th, 1573. Oliver Stumble baptized 
October 2nd, 1575, and Christian, wife of James Stumble, buried 
October 21st, 1578. The above are all extracted from the Registers 
at Ash. Christopher Stumble of Woodnesborough died in February, 
1596-7. In his will, proved 4th of that month, he describes 
himself as "husbandman," bequeaths all his goods and chattels to 
his brother Oliver, and desires his master, William Marshall, to be 
overseer of his will, which is witnessed by Elias Jacob, and Henry 
Harfleet. Pre. Off., Cant. The latter name indicates a family 
connection, but the above dates are difficult to reconcile with the 
statements in Philipot's pedigree. 



GENEALOGICAL AND HERALDIC NOTES. 339 

will of Sir Thomas Bode, Vicar of Ash, July 1st, 
1519; but we have not the date of his death. He 
married Beatrix, daughter and heir of E^ichard 
Brooke,"* by whom he had, according to the earliest 
Visitation of Kent, D. 13, two sons, Thomas and 
William,! and we believe a third, named John ; as 
we find a " John Harflete " buried, 15th December, 
15584 whom we can trace to no other line. Of 
William we hear no more. Both may have married 
and had issue, but we have no record of the fact. A 
*' Nicholas Harflete," whom we cannot affiliate, is 
witness to the will of Stephen Hougham of Ash, 
dated 20th November, 1555, with Christopher Har- 
fleet, eldest son of Thomas (brother of William), just 
mentioned. 

With this Thomas, then, we must now proceed. 
He married, first, Bennett, daughter and heir of 
George Wynborne, and Alice his wife, daughter 
and heir of Wolfe of Huntingdonshire ;§ and 

* His arms quartered with those of Twitham, Sandwich, and 
Ellis, impaling Lozengy or and gules, a chief azure for Brooke are 
still in the windows of Holland, vide page 119. We have doubts, 
however, on this subject. No such arms appear for any family of 
the name of Brooke, but this identical coat is set down in Vincent's 
Ordinary as that of William Brooke of London. It is also 
remarkable that no Richard occurs in the whole of the Harfleet 
pedigrees. 

t " Raymond At-Cheker, alias Harflete, eldest sone and heir to 
Xpofer, maryed and had issue, Thomas his eldyst sone, William 
seconde sone." 

% Ash Reg. 

§ His arms, quartering Twitham, Sandwich, Ellis and Wolfe (?), 

z 2 



340 A CORNER or KENT. 

secondly, Marianne, daughter of Edward Brock- 
bill,'* and was buried at Asb, April 4tb, 1559. By 
bis first wife, Bennett Wynborne, be bad five sons : 
Cbristopber, William, Jobn, Vincent, Edward, and 
George, t and a daughter named Constance; J by bis 
second wife be bad one son, Henry, and two daugh- 
ters, Bennett and Susan. § In his will, proved 29th 
of January, 1559-60, he describes himself as '' Thomas 
Atcheker, otherwise called Thomas Harflete," and 
mentions all his sons above-named, but no daughters. 
Bennett, however, was married to William Bishop, of 
London, and Susan died unmarried, and was buried 
at Ash, April 28th, 1565. Of Constance we hear no 
more. 

Christopher, eldest son of Thomas Atcbequer, 
married before 1561, || Mercy, daughter of Thomas 

impaling quarterly, Wynborne and Wolfe, are in the staircase window 
at Holland, vide page 119. The quartering of Wolfe in his own 
coat, implies the previous match of a paternal ancestor with an 
heiress of that family, unless brought in by Ellis. If not a mistake, 
a curious point for investigation. We have not succeeded in finding 
any pedigree of Wolfe of Huntingdon, which family appears to have 
been connected with the Keriels, vide pp. 190, 191. 

* She survived him, and married, secondly, Vincent St. Nicholas, 
vide pp. 238, 239. 

t Visit. D. 13. X Philipot. § Visit. D. 13. 

II We by this fact approach to a certainty the date of that portion of 
the MS. D. 13, in Coll. of Arms, as we find in it, " Xpher Atcheker 
als Harflete, eldyst sone and heire to Thomas, maryedM^rcj, daughter 
to Thomas Hendley of Kent, and by her hathe issue, Thomas hys 
eldest sone, and Dorothye." As Thomas was born 1562, and Dorothy 
in 1564, it is clear that this entry was made in or after the 5th of 
Queen Elizabeth. 



GENEALOGICAL AND nERALDIC NOTES. 341 

Hendley, of Otham, Esq., and widow of Edmond 
Eowler of Islington, Esq., born 29th September, 1530. 
Christopher, who dropped the name of Atchecquer 
and resumed that of Septvans, signing his will 
'' Christopher Septvans, alias Harflete," died in 1575.* 
His widow survived him twenty-seven years, and 
died 27th May, 1602. She bore to him five sons : 
Thomas, Samuel, Walter, Raymond, and Cornelius, t 
and three daughters : Dorothy, Susan, and Mildred ; 
Dorothy died an infant, Susan married Edward 
Carewe of Romford, Co. Essex, Esq., and Mildred, 
William Courthope of Stodmarsh, Esq. J 

William, second son of Thomas Atchecquer, 

married a daughter of Eiske, by whom he had 

issue, Edward. § 

John Harflete of Ash, third son, in his will proved 
19th September, 1581-82, |1 mentions his sons William 

* Buried, September 17th, Ash Reg. By his will, proved 18th 
October following, he bequeaths to his wife " Mercy,'' his Manor of Hol- 
land and other estates in Ash, for her life, with remainder to Thomas, 
his son in tail male, and remainder to sons, Samuel, Walter, and 
Raymond, in like tail. 

t " Cornelius Harfleet, my son," twice mentioned in her will, dated 
14th May, 44th Queen Elizabeth (1602), with her sons Walter and 
Thomas ] but no mention of Raymond or Samuel, they might have 
been dead in 1602 ; but Cornelius would appear to have been a post- 
humous son, as he is not named in the remainders over in his father's 
will. We find neither baptism nor burial of this Cornelius in the 
register at Ash. 

% 1583, "Edward Carewe and Susan Harflete married, November 
19th," Ash Reg. "My daughter Susanne Caro we." Will of Mary 
Harflete, 1602. Pedigree, Philipot Annulet. Will of Christopher, 1575. 

§ Pedigree, Philipot Annulet. \\ Prevog. Off., Cant. 



342 A CORNER OE KENT. 

and John, and Mary his daughter, bnt no wife, she 
was probably dead ; but we know neither her name 
nor her family. 

Of Vincent, Edward and George, the other sons of 
Thomas Atchecquer, by his first wife, we find no 
further trace. ^ Henry Harfleet, his only son by his 
second wife, married, July 9th, 1577, Mary, daughter 
of George Stoughton of Ash, and by her, who died in 
1594, had a numerous family, of whom anon ; and 
secondly, Silvester, daughter of his stepfather, Vincent 
St. Nicholas, by a former wife, but by her he had no 
issue, t 

To proceed with the elder line : Thomas Harfleet, 
afterwards knighted, eldest son of Christopher Sept- 
vans, was born in 1562, and married, first, Elizabeth, 
daughter of William Gilborne of London, Esq., 
and sister of Sir Eichard Gilborne of Charing, 
Co. Kent, knight ; secondly, Bennett, daughter of 
Michael Berrisford of Squerries^ Esq., by Bose, 
daughter of John Knevit, who died July 2nd, 1612 ; 
and thirdly, Dorothy, daughter of Avery Mantell, 

* An Edward Harfleet of St. Paul's, Canterbury, Gent., was married 
to Mary Goodhead of Preston, October, 1605 (Add. MS., Brit. Mus. 
5507), and a George Harflett was buried in 1574 (Ash Reg.) j another 
George Harflete of Petham, yeoman, aged 38, was married to Susan, 
relict of Pobert Friend, December, 1628 (Add. MS. ut supra), but 
we cannot undertake to identify them. 

f She re-married with Richard Knight of Aldington, yeoman 
(Add. MS. ut supra), and she was a widow when she married Henry 
Harfleet, who alludes in his will to her " first husband," but not by 
name. 



GENEALOGICAL AND HERALDIC NOTES. 343 

and widow of Thomas Mendfield, Esq., Mayor of 
Peversham, who survived him, and married John 
Darell of Calehill, Esq.* Sir Thomas Harfleet had 
no issue by his first or third wife; but by Bennett 
Berrisford he had two sons : Michael, who died with- 
out issue, November, 1618,t and Christopher, who 
succeeded him, and seven daughters, of whom only 
two survived;}: Eose, baptized April 27th, 1595, 
married Charles Trippe of Trapham in Wingham, 
Co. Kent, July I7th 1615 ;§ and Jane, married, first, 
in 1617, to Christopher Toldervey, of Chartham, Esq., 
who died the following year ; H and secondly, January 
24th, 1619-20, to her cousin, Michael, son of George 
Berrisford, Esq.^ 

Sir Christopher Harfleet, only surviving son of Sir 
Thomas, was baptized April 5th, 1592, died at 
Canterbury, and was buried at Ash, August 6th, 
1662. He married, April 6th, 1618, Aphra, daughter 

of and widow of Alcot, who 

died in 1664, by whom it appears he left no issue.** 

Of Samuel, second son of Christopher Septvans, by 

* Ash Registers and Pedigrees, Coll. Arms, Philipot 23, p. 8. 
Sir Thomas Harfleet was buried 27th September, 1617 (Ash Reg.) ; 
will dated 16th September, and proved 9th of October, same year. 
P.O.C. The will of Thomas Mendfield is printed in Lewis's Fever- 
sham, p. 62, dated July 26th, 1614. 

t Will, Prerog. Off., Cant., dated 17th October, 1617, proved 10th 
March, 1618-19. 

X Vide page 229. § Ash Reg. 

II Mod. In., vide page 230, and Ash Reg. 

% Ash Register. 

** Vide pages 82 and 344, and note * page 345. 



344i A CORNER 01^ KENT. 

Mercy Hendley, we know but little beyond his 
baptism. May, 1566. He married September 4th, 
1592, Winifred, daughter of Sir Robert Peyton, Bart.,* 
by Elizabeth, sister of Lord E.ich, and widow of — — 
Osborne, Esq., Counsellor at law, who survived him 
and married, thirdly, John Hornbye, of Lincolnshire, 
Esq. Philipot says he had a son also, named 
Samuel, t 

Walter, third son of Christopher, described as of 
Beakesbourne, married Joan Challoner, and died 
January 4th, 1642 ; by her he had three sons and 
three daughters : John, Walter, Thomas, Jane, Mercy, 
and Joan; J of the sons, John and Walter died 
(apparently) unmarried. Thomas, the youngest, 
called of Trapham, married Margaret, daughter of 
Sir George Newman of Canterbury, knight, by whom 
he had two daughters, Jane and Aphra ; Jane died 
unmarried, 167x5 and Aphra, as heir to her father 
and sister, succeeding to all the estates in the Parish 
of Ash, formerly held by Sir Christopher Harfleet 
(from whom, in default of male issue, they had passed 

-^ AsTi Reg. and Add. MS., Brit. Mas. 5507. John Peyton of 
Iselkam, son of Sir Robert Peyton and Elizabeth Rich, married Alice, 
daughter of Sir Edward Osborne, Lord Mayor of London, A.D. 1583, 
progenitor to the Duke of Leeds. 

t Philipot, MS., marked Mascle. 

% Mary (Mercy ?) Harfleet, aged 18, daughter of Walter Harfleet 
of Beakesbourne, married Jacob Braems of Dover, Esq., widower, 
aged 27, in 1624, and Joan, daughter of Walter Harfleet of Beakes- 
bourne, Gent., aged 21, married Arnold Braems of Dover, Merchant 
(afterwards knighted), aged 27 in 1731. Add. MS. ut sui^ra. 



GENEALOGICAL AND HERALDIC NOTES. 845 

in remainder to his cousin Thomas, son of Walter, 
according to the will of Christopher Septvans, before 
quoted), conveyed them to her husband, John St. 
Ledger of Doneraile, Ireland, Esq., and thus was 
extinguished the line of Septvans, alias Harfleet, of 
Holland and Checquer.* 

We must now return to the issue of John Harflete 
of Ash, third son of Thomas Atchecquer, before 
mentioned. His son John, died March, 158f,t 
unmarried. William, sole surviving son, described 
as of Sandwich, married Clara, daughter of John 
Trippe of Trapham in Wingham. J By his will, proved 
10th December, 1610, we find he left four sons under 
age : John, William, Charles, and Thomas ; and four 
daughters, Clara, Elizabeth, Mary, and Jane.§ Of 



* We have already alluded to the important error of Mr. Hasted, 
at page 82. The following extract from the Trust Deed, in the chest 
at Ash, will, we think, be perfectly conclusive : — " This Indenture 
made the six and twentieth day of Aprill, in the four and twentieth 
yeare of our Gracious Soveraigne Lord Charles the Second, by the 
Grace of God, of England, Scotland, France, and Ireland, King, 
Defender of the Faith, &c. ; and in the Yeare of our Lord God, one 
thousand six hundred, seventy and two. Between Margaret Harjleete 
of Trapham, in the parish of Wingham, in the County of Kent, 
widow and relict of Thomas Harfleete, Esq., late of Trapham aforesaid, 
John St. Leger of Donerayle in the kingdom of Ireland, Esq., aud 
Aphra his wife, daughter and heir of Thomas Harfleete aforesaid, and 
sister and heir of Jane Harfleete, virgin, deceased, on they re part," &c. 

t Ash Reg. % Visit. Keut, D. 18. Coll. Arms. 

§ Prerog. Off., Cant. Clara Harflete of Sandwich, married John 
Page of Sandwich, mariner. May, 1612; aud Mary Harflete of 
Canterbury, aged 22, daughter of William Harflete of Sandwich, 



346 A COHNER OF KENT. 

the sons, Charles appears to have become Vicar of 
Nonnington, Co. Kent, where, according to Hasted, 
he died in 1672. Of William and Thomas we know 
nothing ; but John, the eldest son, married Margaret, 
daughter of Edward Lawrence of Tutsham Hall, Co. 
Kent, Esq., by whom he had Harriet, married to 
Thomas Shirley, Esq., and one son, Cornelius, born in 
1642, who married, first, in 1670, aged 28, Mary, 
relict of John Earmer of Sandwich, and secondly, 
in 1684, Elizabeth Nichols of Adisham.* 

This ''Cornelius Harflete, Gentleman," is the 
person we believe to have been buried in the Chancel 
of Ash Church, May 17, 1694 ;t but there was an- 
other '' Cornelius Harflete of Sandwich, woollen 
draper," living at the same period, who was a 
'' widower " in 1678, when he married Mary Elgar of 
Sandwich, aged 21, and again a widower in 1685, 
married Mary Shrubsole of Canterbury, aged 26. | 

Whether the Cornelius Harfleet, who died in 1694, 
left issue, we have not ascertained, but by what 
appears to be the will of the latter Cornelius, therein 
calling himself " of Sandwich, merchant," dated 10th 
Eebruary, 1708-9, § and proved 11th March following, 
he left two sons, Thomas and Henry, the latter under 
age at that date, and three daughters, Dorothy, Sarah, 

Gent., deceased, married John Old field of St. Gregories, Canterbury, 
yeoman, aged 19, in 1623. Add. MS. ut siqwa. 

* Add. MS. ut supra. 

t " J/r. Cornelious Harfleete, buried in the Chancel." — Ash Reg. 

X Add. MS. ut supra. § Prerog. Off., Cant. 



GENEALOGICAL AND HERALDIC NOTES. 347 

and Margaret, the two former apparently by a previous 
marriage. It is to be observed, however, that he twice 
names his then wife, whom he leaves sole executrix, 
" Margaret," and not " Mary." The latter name may 
have been an error of transcription. 

Thomas Harfleet of Sandwich (the son named in 
the will, we presume,) married Jane Hyde of Margate, 
in 1723,* and another, or perhaps the same Thomas, 
was made parish clerk of St. Clement's, Sandwich, in 
1749. t What a termination to a pedigree traceable 
from the reign of Henry II. ! 

It now only remains for us to continue the line from 
Henry Harfleet of Hills Court, called the elder, the 
half brother of Christopher and John, being the only 
son of Thomas Atchecquer, by his second wife Marian 
Brockhill. This Henry, by his wife Mary Slaughter, 
had four sons and three daughters : Henry, John, 
Thomas, and Edward, Mary, Martha, and Susan.J 
John and Edward died young. § Thomas, baptized 
18th August, 1587, married November, 1610, Eliza- 
beth Oxenden, || by whom he had three sons, Chris- 

* Add. MS. ut supra. + Ibidem. 

X Ash Eeg. Mary married Ethebert Omer, yeoman, at St. 
Margaret's, Canterbury, October 16th, 1600. Martha married John 
Hasnode of Canterbury, tailor, November 7th, 1608. And Susan, 
Henry Musred of Ash, husbandman^ November 30th, 1609. — Ash 
Reg. and Add. MS. ut supra. 

§ John baptized March 3rd, 1583-4, buried June 28th, 1599, 
Edward baptized January 25th, 1589-90, buried May 28th, 1599.— 
Ash Reg. 

II " Thomas Harflete of Ash, Gent., and Elizabeth Oxenden of 
Wingham."— Add. MS. 5507. 



348 A COENER or KENT. 

topher, John, and Thomas, and two daughters, Mary 
and Elizabeth.^ The latter, baptized at Wingham 
2nd February, 161f , was, we presume, the Elizabeth 
Harfleet w^ho married, in 1652, Thomas Kitchell, 
and was at that time probably heir to her father, as 
her sister died in infancy, and we hear no more of her 
brothers. Henry, the eldest son of Henry of Hills 
Court, married Dorcas, daughter of Joshua Pordage 
of Sandwich, by whom he had six sons — Henry, 
Arthur, Thomas, Christopher, Samuel, and Samuel, 
and four daughters — Anne, Mary, Deborah, and 
Priscilla.t Of the sons, Henry alone seems to 
have married and had issue. By his wife, Dorothy, 
daughter and heir of Anthony Combe of Greenwich, 
he had issue two sons, Henry and Samuel, and two 
daughters, Abigail and Ursula. Of Samuel, baptized 
at Ash in 1635, we hear no more. " Henry Seffans, 
alias Harflete of Ash," J the elder brother, born 27th 
September, 1633, and unmarried in 1663, was buried 
at Ash in 1679, and with him this line seems to have 
expired. His sister Abigail married E;ichard Bellamy 
of Buxley, Co. Leicester, Gent. ; and Ursula was 
buried at Ash two days after her mother Dorothy, 

* Kegisters of Ash and Wingbara. 

+ Ash Register, Visitation, Co. Kent., D. 18. The first Samuel died 
in infancy, and the second was baptized in the following year, 1626. 
Anne and Piiscilla also died infants, Deborah unmarried in 1641, and 
Mary married William Sprote of Eastwell, Gent. (Add. MS. 5,507). 
Henry Harfleet marrifd, secondly, March 26th, 1629, Bennett Hnffam 
(Ash Reg.), by whom it does not appear he had any issue. 

:|: Visitation, D. 18. 



GENEALOGICAL AND HERALDIC NOTES. 349 

as ''a syngle maiden daughter to the former," June 
9th, 1659. 

Either the first or the second Henry Ilarfleet must 
have been the author of a book without date, entitled 
" Vox Coelorum ; or. Predictions Defended, with a 
Vindication of Mr. Lilly's (the celebrated astrologer) 
Reputation," and dedicated to ** John Boys of Bets- 
hanger, Esq''% one of the members of the honourable 
House of Commons." Henry Harfleet " the elder," 
who died in 1608, left all his law books to his son 
Henry, then 28 years old;*" and the probability is 
that they were both men of literary tastes and 
habits. 

The author of ''Vox Coelorum," Mr. Streatfield 
observes, was " a favourable prophet to the Bepubli- 
cans." — (Streatfield MSS.) And we are inclined to 
attribute the work to the second Henry. 

A word or two must still be said respecting the 
arms of this remarkable family. The seal of Bobert 
de Septvans, son of Bobert de Septvans, to the charter 
to St. Gregory's, Canterbury, ante 1216, preserved in 
the College of Arms, presents us with no armorial 
bearings, and the earliest example we at present 
know of them appears in the often engraved sepul- 
chral brass at Chartham of Sir Bobert de Septvans, 
fifth of that name, who died 34th of Edward I., 
1306. It afibrds us a fine specimen of the ailettes 

* Will Prerog. Off., Cant. He was a member of some Inn of Court. 
See will of his brother Christopher, who leaves him '' £40 per annum 
if he so so long continue at an Inn of Court." 



850 A CORNER or KENT. 

in fasMon at that period {vide our notice of tlie effigy 
of Sir John Goshall, p. 203), and displays on them, 
as well as on the surcoat, the winnowing fans, which 
were most probably at first seyen in number for 
" /S'^^^-vans," but reduced, in compliance with a later 
practice, to three, as they continued to bear them from 
the 14ith century. The earliest example of the crest 
we have met with is engraved at the head of this 
chapter from the brass on the gravestone, formerly 
in Canterbury Cathedral, of Sir William Septvans, 
1407, exhibiting the head of a fish erect, as in the 
monument of John Septvans, Esq., in Ash Church. 
The line, however, from which the Harfleets de- 
scended, bore, as we have already observed, an entire 
fish naiant, called a bream by Vincent, and by Philip ot 
a chevin or chub. A family named Chevin was settled 
at Sholand in Newenham, in the reign of Edward III., 
when one of them married a co-heiress of the Cam- 
panias. We have strong suspicions that the Chevins 
were originally Septvans (Sevins), but if not, the 
alteration of the crest may have been occasioned by 
an unrecorded alliance between the two families. 

GOSHALL. 

Of the origin of this name, whether derived from 
the family, or vice versd, we have already acknow- 
ledged our ignorance. Kobert, the earliest of the 
family so called, appears with his son E^alph as a 
witness to the Charter of Eoger de Chilton, unfortu- 
nately not dated, but, from the names of all the parties 



GENEALOGICAL AND HERALDIC NOTES. 351 

concerned in it, evidently not later than the commence- 
ment of the thirteenth century. " Eob" de Gosehaule 
et E^adfo f. ejus."* If this E^alph, the son of Robert, 
he identical with the " Rannulph de Gosehale," who 
held lands under the Archbishop of Canterbury, 8th 
of Henry III., A.D. 1224, as we have every reason to 
believe, his father Eobert must have deceased some 
short time previous to the latter date, and was there- 
fore living in the time of King John and Richard I. 
A Robert de Gosehall, most likely the same, is witness 
with Henry de Sandwich to a charter of Matilda de 
Auberville.t Ranulph, we know, was dead 25th of 
Henry III., A.D. 1241, when Walter, his son and 
heir, held IJ knight's fees in Goshall.J In the 37th 
of Henry III., 1253, there was a final concord between 
Walter de Gosehale and Richard de Heyrhebye, 
respecting 60 acres of land in Ash, with appurte- 
nances, in which mention is made of Margery, who 
was the wife of R. Sanders. § Here we come to a 
break in our evidence. We have no information 
respecting the wives of Robert, Ranulph, or Walter, 
nor whether they were (and it is most probable they 
were not) the only children of their fathers, nor can 
we yet state positively who succeeded Walter de 
Goshall, but we learn from another source, the Lieger 
Book of the Priory of Davington, that in the reign 
of Henry III. there was a Peter de Goleshaule or 
Gosehaule, who is distinguished as one of the bene- 

* Vide page 84. t Harleian Charters, 45, E. 33. 

X Vide page 61. § Lansdown MS., Brit. Mus., 267. 



352 A CORNER OF KENT. 

factors of that establishment. " Dons Petrus de Goles- 
haule sive Gosehaule unus benefactorii nostrorn," 
and about the same period we find " Sara de Gos- 
haule Monachd^^ and " Johanna soror domine Sara 
de Gosehaule," recorded amongst the friends or 
inmates of that house, who were probably buried 
there. 

Hasted, without quoting his authority, says boldly, 
" John de Goshale was possessed of this manor in the 
reign of K. Henry III.," at which time, as we have 
already told our readers,* the celebrated Sir John 
Maunsell certainly held some portion of it, as in 
1258, on his foundation of the Priory of Bilsington, 
he gave to it all his lands in " Goshale, Poire, and 
Eche." A few years previously, A.D. 1244, we find 
Simon son of Henry de Sandwich was in possession 
of lands at Poire, and we can scarcely doubt that 
there was some intimate connection between these 
three families ; but the link has yet to be discovered. 
In the year 1300, a Henry de Thorne owned the I 
manor of Thorne in Minster, Isle of Thanet ; and on / 
7th Kalends of January, 1300-1, complaint having 
been made against him for causing mass to be publicly 
said in his private oratory at Thorne, to the prejudice 
of the mother church, and no notice taken of the 
interdiction of the oratory by Thomas, Abbot of St. 
Austin's, letters were sent by the Abbot to the 
Vicar of Minster, enjoining and commanding him to 

* Page 63. 



GENEALOGICAL AND HEUALDIC NOTES. 353 

acknowledge the interdict, and threatening with 
anathematization any person going to mass at the 
said chapel.* This manor of Thorne passed, it would 
appear, to the family of Goshall upon the death of 
Henry, by marriage, it is supposed, with an heiressr ; 
but whether the daughter or sister of Henry, we have 
no evidence. It is, however, just at the time that we 
find the family of Goshall in connection with those of 
John Maunsel, Henry de Sandwich, and Henry de 
Thorne, that the names of John and Henry make 
their first appearance in the pedigree. We question 
if any John de Goshall was in possession of a por- 
tion of the manor of Goshall, tem]^, Henry III., as 
Hasted asserts. We have evidence of the existence of 
Walter de Goshall in 1276, third of Edward I.,t and 
in 1281, eighth of Edward I., we find Henry de 
Goshall and Alan Tyete concerned in the settle- 
ment of lands at Cofcmanton, in the parish of Ash, J 
which Lewis tells ns was in his time parcel of the 
estate of Thorne, and anciently belonged to St. Aus- 

* Lewis; " Thanet," 4to, 1723. 

t His name appears as witness to a charter of William de Breus 
to Walter de Shipley, Cierico. "H. T. Walter de Gossehale 3 of 
Edward son of King Henry." A.D. 1276. (Coll. Arm. R 27, Kent.) 
In a copy of a Roll of Arms of the 13th century, Vincent 164, p. 136, 
the arms of a Walter de Goshall are drawn as those of Sandwich, dif- 
ferenced by a hurt, charged with a cinquefoil, or, and in chief two 
bezants, each charged with a cinquefoil, azure. A very importan 
piece of genealogical evidence. 

X " Conventio inter Henricum de Goshale et Alanum Tyete de terr 
apud Cotmanton in poch de Esshe 8 Ed. 1st." (Harleian Charter, 
78. D. 24.) The seal to this instrument has only a flower upon it. 

2 A 



354 A CORNER OF KENT. 

tin's Abbey.* As this would be twenty years at least 
before the death of Henry de Thorne, we are inclined 
to think his heiress, whoever she was, must have 
been the wife of the Sir John de Goshall who suc- 
ceeded Henry de Goshall ; but whether as son and 
heir, or brother and heir, we have nothing to inform 
us. We find amongst the Harleian Charters several 
in which mention is made of the Sir John de Goshall 
who held two knight's fees at Goldstanton and Goshall 
of the Archbishop, in the time of Edward I. No. 76 
E. 55 is one in which Eobert, John, and Thomas, 
sons of Sir Robert de Champagne, acknowledge an 
annual rent of three pence and one hen to the said 
John de Goshall, for the occupation of lands not 
specified, dated 22nd Ed. I. (1294). No. 76 E. 56 is 
another by the same parties, but without date. Nos. 
80 A. 43, 53, and 75, are three charters of William, 
son of Roger de Pondfelde, to the Lord John de Gos- 
hall, Knight, of land in Goldstanton and elsewhere 
not named, the first being dated 34th Edward I., 
1306. 

There is also a charter by William de Sandfold 
confirming John de Goshale, knight, in divers lands 
and tenements in Ash, of which he had had novel 
deseisin from Edward I. in the thirtieth year of that 
reign (A.D. 1303), given at Goldstanton and wit- 
nessed by Alan and Theobald de Helles, Thomas at 
Mollond, &c. 

* Called Cotmannefeld in the Yaliiation by Nicholas de Thorne, 
Abbot, 1275.— Lewis's "Thanet," pp. 75-82. 



GENEALOGICAL AND HERALDIC NOTES. 355 

In the Lansdowne Collection, 'No. 268, Brit. Mus., 
there is a final concord between John de Gosehawle, 
Andrew de Barre, and Kroger de Camyille, and Isa- 
bella his wife, respecting a messuage, &c., in Ash, 
next Sandwich, dated thirty-first of Edward I. ; and 
in the same MS., page 293, another between John 
Gosehall and Henry Leverick and Margaret his wife, 
respecting land in Ash, next Sandwich, thirty-fourth 
Edward I., 1306. 

It would appear that Sir John de Goshall did not 
long survive the latter date, and was certainly suc- 
ceeded by his son Henry before the sixth of Ed- 
ward II., 1313, under which date we have in the 
Harleian Charters, 78 D. 25, a charter by Henry 
de Goshall, presenting certain lands in Ash, next 
Sandwich, to Alicia, widow of Bobert de Holonde. 
The seal is impressed simply with the figure of a 
rabbit. 

This Henry de Goshall, afterwards knighted, was 
seised of Goshall in the eighteenth of Edward 11., 
1325, and dead in the seventh Edward III., 1335, 
when a partition took place between John, Henry, 
Walter, and Bobert, sons of Henry de Gosehall and 
of Margaret his wife, of lands in St. Lawrence, 
Minster, and Isle of Thanet, which they had in 
reversion after the death of Alice, wife of Anselm de 
Bipple, who had fined for them to John de Gosehall, 
grandfather of the said John, &c. This most im- 
portant document, which we have so happily lighted 
on, gives us in a few lines a quantity of information 

2 A 2 



356 A CORNER OP KENT. 

not to be found, perhaps, at present, elsewhere. Mar- 
garet, the wife of this Henry de Goshall, was, as we 
have stated in our second chapter, the daughter of 
Thomas and sister of Nicholas de Sandwich ; and the 
seal to this instrument exhibits two shields suspended 
from the branches of a tree, according to the fashion 
of that period ; the dexter with the arms of Goshall 
semee of crosslets, a lion rampant, as formerly on the 
shield of the Goshall effigy in Ash church, and the 
sinister with those of Sandwich ;* the whole in an 

oval with the words " Margare Gosehal" 

still clearly legible. We learn from this document 
that Henry, AYalter, and Kobert, the three younger 
sons, were all at that time under age, and the 
affiliation of their father, Henry, is proved by the 
declaration that Alicia de Eipple had paid for 
her lands to John de Gosehale, " avus predict! 
Johannis" (son of the elder Henry) and his 
brothers. Anselm de E^ipple, we gather from other 
charters, married one of the family of St. Ledger ; and 
John, the son of Anselm, assumed the name of Pesing, 
or Pysing, from the manor so called in the Hundred 
of Branesbergh, held by Graaland de St. Ledger in 
1227, and which seems to have passed to Anselm de 
Kipple with his wife Alicia, in one instance called 
Alicia de Pesing.f Prom the lands in St. Law- 

* The indentation of the chief is" obliterated. 

t Daughter of Philip de Pesing, who was brother of Hugo de St. 
Ledger, by Matilda. 

John de Eipple (called also de Pesing) had a daughter named 



GENEALOGICAL AND HERALDIC NOTES. 



857 



rence, &c. being left in reversion to the sons of Henry 
de Gosliall, there can be little doubt that Alicia de 
Eipple, who had fined to their grandfather for them, 
was, either by birth or descent, a member of one 
of that family. It is unnecessary, however, for us 
to do more than point out the sources from which 
further evidence on this point may be obtained by 
those who are interested in the pursuit of it.* Our 
next step is to show the succession of the eldest son, 
John de Goshale, who was in possession of his father's 
estates in thirteenth of Edward III., when, as John, 
son of Henry de Gosehale, he made an agreement 
with Margaret, formerly wife of the said Henry, 
respecting lands at St. Lawrence and Minster in 

Alice, wife of Benedick de Ospringe, living S2nd Henry III. — MS. 
Coll. Arm. E. 27. 

* The following documents, copied in MS. H. 27 CoU. Arms, are 
those which have led ns to these conclusions : 

Charter of " Graeling, de 8"^° Leodegario, lands in Pyssing, H. T. 
Dom^ Bertramo de CrioUio Constabul de Dover, Henr. de Sandwyco, 
&c." 

Charter of Johes de Pyssing f Anselme de Bipple. Charter of the 
same f. Alicia de Pyssing, 4th Edward I. Charter of the same Johes 
de Pesing, land which beloDged to Grailand, " cognati mei." 

"Johes de Pessing de undecim aeras tre ppe trans que fuit Grailandi 
cognati sui." H. T. Ph« de Pesiug. 

Johes de Stifford F. et h. Mich, de Stifford remissi, &c., totum jus 
meum in uno messuag et tribus aeris tre, &c., apd Pessing et in 
hundredo de Branesbergh quod hui post Johem filiam Phi. de Pessing 
militis et Graalandi de Set** Leo^ Legar £ eiusdem Joham ava meam 
etc. remisi etiam de 64 aeras trd jacent in manerio de Pesing quas 
hui post Alicia filiam dni sorori die Johe matris dni Graellandi 



358 A COENEE OE KENT. 

Thanet ; by the description, apparently, that portion 
to which he became entitled on the death of Alicia 
de Ripple. Henry de Goshall appears, however, to 
have had another son named Thomas, who must have 
been the eldest, married and dead before 1335, as he 
is not named amongst the brothers in the deed of 
partition aforesaid. We learn this from a charter of 
Walter, the fourth son, who, on the 12th of January, 
twentieth Edward III., 1348-9, having then, of 
course, attained his full age, as Walter, son of Henry de 
Gosehale, knight, gives to John de Gosehale, knight, 
and to Elizabeth, his wife, the third part of the manor of 
Goldstanton, with its appurtenances, which Beatrice, 
who M^as the wife of Thomas de Gosehale, his late 
brother {quondam fratris mei) held in dower by the 
assignment of the said Thomas, her late husband. 
The witnesses are Thomas and Adam de Helles, Henry 
Attecrouch, Nicholas, William, and Thomas Saffery, 
Peter de Pedding (all well-known names in Ash), 
Thomas de Garwynton, Poger T. Kynnere, William 
Styward, Stephen le Groom, Andrew Coneyfer, &c. 
The seal is too much obliterated for us to distinguish 
the impression.* 

The following charters by Sir John de Goshall it 
will be sufficient for us to indicate : — 



* This same Walter de Gosliall had a suit the following year, 
21st of Edward III., against Thomas de Pedding, concerning the 
manor of Clivesend, Isle of Thanet. Hot. Pat. sub anno. The 
same roll, part 1, contains the exemplification of fine by John de 
Goshall for the manor of Goldstanton. 



GENEALOGICAL AND HEEALDIC NOTES. 359 

Carta J. de Goeshall Johanni Sherrene de Maneris 
de Olyves in Insula Thanet. — Cum sig. 14 Edward III. 
Harl. 78 D. 28. 

Carta Johannis de Goseliale, fil Henrici de Gose- 
hale. Mil. Stephano de Byrking de Messagio in Esshe. 
Sine sig. 16 E^ III. 13M. (Harl. 78, D. 29.) 

Carta J. de Goshale, Johannis Cope de terr. in 
villde Esshe. Sine sig. Same date. (Harl. 78, D. 30.) 

Carta J. de Gosehale, fil Henrici de Gosehale,B;Ogero 
de Henthorne et Julianas uxori suae de Messagio 
in Esshe cum sig. (merely a human figure). Same 
date. (Harl. 78, D. 31.) 

Also, Carta Laurenti de Boklande Johanni de 
Gossehall de Terr, in Esshe juxta Sandwicum. Sine 
sig. Same date. (Harl. 76, C. 54.) 

The ahove are principally interesting as a record of 
names of holders or occupiers of land in the parish of 
Ash, in the reign of Edward III. 

We have seen from the charter of Walter de 
Goshall, just quoted, that, in 1348-9, his eldest sur- 
viving hrother, John, was married to a lady named 
Elizabeth. This Elizabeth we believe to have been 
the daughter and heir of Sir John Grove, whose 
mutilated effigy in St. Peter's, Sandwich, was pre- 
served from complete destruction by Mr. Boys, and 
is engraved in his " Collections." Upon the tomb to 
which it pertained were, in 1613, six shields display- 
ing, 1, Grove ; three leaves in bend, on a canton, three 
crescents, as on the shield of the effigy ; 2, Septvans ; 
3, St. Ledger ; 4, Hilpurton ; 5, Isaac ; and 6, Sand- 



360 A CORNER OF KENT. 

wich; — important materials for the pedigrees of all 
tliose families. Elizabeth survived her husband, 
who was dead in 1372, and was herself living in 
1378, second of Richard II., when William Wylt- 
shire gives a bond to Elizabeth, "quae fuit uxor 
Johannis de Gosehale Militis" for £20. — (Harleian 
Charters, No. 80, I. 69.) In the same collection, 
and amongst the evidences of Combewell Abbey, 
preserved in the College of Arms, are numerous 
acquittances from " Elizabeth, who was the wife 
of John de Goshall, knight," or from '* Eliza- 
beth, Lady of Goshall," for different sums from 
various persons farming the manor of Elmes, or 
Nelmes, in Ash, next Sandwich, to which we have 
already alluded in our second chapter ; and here our 
knowledge of the family of Goshall terminates. The 
heiress, daughter, it is presumed, of the aforesaid Sir 
John and Elizabeth, and named after her mother, 
married Thomas St. Nicholas."^ Of her uncles, Henry, 
Walter, and Robert, if they were her uncles, we have 
not at present found the slightest trace, or the exist- 
ence of any collateral branches. We find from the 
extract from the Lieger Book of Davington that the 
Goshalls were great benefactors to the Priory there ; 
and the cartulary of that house, if still in existence, 
may yet enlighten us on some important particulars. 

* This opinion is greatly strengthened by the fact, that in the list 
of persons commemorated in the Lieger book of Davington we find 
"Domina Elizabetha St. Kicliolas una benefactoru," as well as 
" Domina Elizabetha de Goshaule," and " Matilda de Goshall una 
benef." 



GENEALOGICAL AND HERALDIC NOTES. 361 

We have done all we can with the materials within 
our reach and in the time at our disposal, and must 
now turn our attention to the family of 

St. Nicholas, 

into which the elder line of Goshall merged, towards 
the close of the 14ith century.* 

Certainly about the last place in the world where 
we might have expected to find an elaborate pedigree 

* The arms of St. Nicholas, ermiDe, a chief, quarterly, or and 
gules {vide woodcut at the head of this chapter), deserve an essay to 
themselves ; and we regret that our space will not allow us to do 
more than briefly notice the most important facts connected with 
them. Camden, in his " Remains," has pointed out the similarity of 
them to those of the families of Peckham and Parrock, and given 
them as an example of the bearing of coat armour derived from that 
of a feudal lord; that portion of the shield called "the chief" in 
heraldry, being in this instance the coat of the great family of Say. 
The origin of the three families, St. Nicholas, Peckham, and Parrock, 
is generally considered to have been a common one, but which of them 
may lay claim to the possession of the earliest designation has yet 
to be discovered. Archbishop Peckham, who gave the church of 
St. Nicholas, Ash, to Wingham College, in 1286, is said to have been 
the son of humble parents in the County of Sussex ; while the St. 
Nicholases appear to have been settled as early as the reign of Henry 
III. in Essex. They afterwards are found seated at St. Nicholsis 
Court, in the Isle of Thanet ; but whether they gave their name to, 
or derived it from that property, has not been ascertained. If the 
latter, it is most probable that they were a branch of the Peckhams, 
and that the elevation of an obscure member of that family to the 
Archbishopric of Canterbury was the prelude to their importance 
in the county of Kent. Whether the arms of Say betoken sub- 
infeodation or collateral descent, further research may determine. 
The Parrocks bore a chess-rook in the first quarter, as a difference, 
and must therefore have been an offshoot from the parent stock. 



362 A COHNEE, OF KENT. 

of the old Kentish family of St. Nicholas, was in a 
History of the County of Leicestershire. Neverthe- 
lesSj although the descent of it from Goshall has been 
but briefly and vaguely mentioned by Philipot and 
Hasted, and the Visitations of Kent contain only 
disjointed records of three or four generations 
during the 16th and 17th centuries ; the late Mr. 
Nichols, in consequence of the incident of a match 
between a younger son of that family with a 
Leicestershire lady, has presented us, in his yolu- 
minous and valuable History of the latter county, 
with a pedigree from the time of Edward III., 
down to his own time. As this Leicestershire lady 
was the Lady Priscilla Grey, daughter of Anthony, 
Earl of Kent, it is still more extraordinary that so 
little trouble should have been taken by Kentish 
historians and genealogists in later days, respecting 
the descent of her husband, particularly as it is an 
exceedingly good one. 

Mr. Nichols's Pedigree professes to be compiled 
from information received from the family, and 
evidences in their possession. We shall therefore 
follow it when not contradicted by researches of 
our own, and hope to illustrate it in several 
important parts from unquestionable authority. 
Mr. Nichols heads his Pedigree with a Sir Eoger 
St. Nicholas of St. Nicholas Court, Isle of Thanet, 
living, apparently, about the time of Edward II. or 
Edward III., from whom descended Thomas and 
Sir John, the latter of whom was living ninth of 



GENEALOGICAL AND HERALDIC NOTES. 363 

Eichard II., 1386.'* As early, howeyer, as 1213, 
we find in the Close HoUs the mention of a Lawrence 
de St. Nicholas, who is described as attorney for the 
nephew of Cardinal Gale.f We admit we have no 
evidence to prove that he was a member of this family ; 
but the name of Lawrence is met with early in the 
Pedigree, and the probabilities are in favour of the 
assumption. J To come to matters of fact : — In the 
nineteenth of Edward III., 1345, the King's writ was 
issued, " Dilectis et fidelibus suis Petro Hayward, 
Thomce de Sancto Nicholao et Willielmo de Manston," 
in custody of the ports in the Isle of Thanet.§ This 
Thomas St. Nicholas was apparently dead in 1350, 
for in that year, on the death of Sir John Gifford of 
Bures,|| it was found that Thomas, son of Thomas 

* Vide Note, p. 364. _ _ 

t "Rot. Claus. 15 John. Eex, W. Thes. G. t. R. can ariis tc. 
Libate de the nro Laurencio de Sco Nicho. pcuratori nepotis dni 
Gale Cardinal XX m quas ei debemur de hoc anno sec fi pcipum T. 
Epo Osberne et aliis Romanis," 

% In the 20th of Edward III. a Lawrence St. Nicholas paid aid 
for the making of the Black Prince a Knight, as holder of one quarter 
of a knight's fee at Selgrove in Seldwich, Faversham hundred, which 
he held of the honor of Gloucester. — Hasted, vol. ii., p. 786. 

§ Rymer Foedera, vol. iii., part 1. 

II Bury, in Essex. The St. Nicholas family had certainly early 
connections with this county, and we therefore think it worth notice, 
that in the 44th of Henry III. the name of Senicla (a form in which 
we find that of St. Nicholas in the wills and on the tombs of the 
family) occurs in some pleadings between William and Gilbert, sons 
of William fil Senicla of Dunmowe. Senicla, the father of William, 
having held 12 acres of land at Westinghales payne, and 2 sold ia 
Brimfield. Abbrev. Plac. H. III. No. 44, Essex. 



364 A COUNER OP KENT. 

St. Nicholas, was his (Sir Jolin's) next heir, and that 
the said Thomas was, at that time, of the age of 
twelve years. This Thomas, afterwards knighted, 
died in 1375, and hy his will we find that he left a 
widow named Elizabeth, and three children, viz. : 
a son named Lawrence, and two daughters, Elizabeth 
and Agnes.* These alone are named in his will ; 
but it would seem that he must have had another son, 
whose name we believe to have been John, as we 
shall show presently. Elizabeth, his widow, is pre- 
sumed to have been the daughter and heir of Sir 
John Goshall, by Elizabeth, daughter and heir of Sir 
John Grove, as we have intimated under Goshall. 
Of the daughters, Elizabeth and Agnes, we have no 
further account; but, Lawrence de St. Nicholas is 
mentioned in Dover Plea Rolls, in 1401 ; and we find 
he had a daughter named Johanna, who married, 
first, Salam, or Salamon, at Berton; and secondly, 
Richard Einneux. He is said, also, to have had 
a son named Nicholas — dead in 1446 — who left a 

* Printed in Nichols ; Wills. A " Thomas, son of Sir Roger 
St. Nicholas, was sued hy the Abbot of St. Augiistines, as his 
ward, for refusing to marry Margaret, daughter of Thomas Fagg, 
^ Chivaler,^ to whom the Abbot had engaged him. Die Lunse 
proximo post Festum Purificationis Beatse Marise anno Ricardi Regis 
Secundi nono. Regist. Ccenob. S. Angus, penes R. Parmer, D.D., 
(Nichols, Hist. Leicest.) Awssuming the correctness of this extract, 
this Thomas could not have been the Thomas whose will we have 
just quoted, and who died in 1375, and we must therefore presume 
that the latter had a brother named Roger, also a knight, who was 
dead in the 9th of Richard II., 1386, and left a son Thomas, in 
ward of the Abbot aforesaid. 



GENEALOGICAL AND HERALDIC NOTES. 365 

sole daughter and heiress, named Christian.* Having 
cleared ofiP this branch, we return to the John who 
we imagine was an elder brother of Lawrence, for 
this reason : — Thomas Senyclas or St. Nicholas of 
Thorne, who married Julian, daughter and heir of 
Nicholas Manston, by Eleanor, daughter and heir of 
Edward Haute, t in his will, dated 1474, names his 
mother, Bennett (i. e, Benedicta), but not his father. 
In a pedigree by Vincent (Philipot's MS., Coll. Arm., 
Nos. 26-27, p. 37), which commences with the father 
of this Thomas, the Christian name, John, has 
been added in pencil by the younger Vincent. 
Whether we may rely on this evidence or not, as to 
his Christian name, we cannot doubt his immediate 
descent from Sir Thomas St. Nicholas, as we find 
his sons bequeathing estates, which they could 
only have derived from the heir of Sir Thomas. 

* Close Eoll of 25tli of Henry VL, 1446, by which it appears 
that Christian St. Nicholas, Lady Prioress of the Minories without 
Aldgate, was daughter and heir of Nicholas St. Nicholas of St. Nicholas 
Court, Thanet, and Thomas St. Nicholas is named in the same 
record. — Yfeever, p. 265. 

t There is some strange confusion or error about this lady in 
Weever's Monuments. At page 267, we read — "Here lieth Thomas 
St. Nicholas, who married Joane, daughter of |Edmund Haute of 
Manston, died . . . , had issue Thomas St. Nicholas, here interred." 
Also, " Thomse Sayen Nicolas Armiger et Johanne consortis sue quse 

obiit XX Anno Domini Millesimo CCCCLXXIY. quorum 

animabs propitietur Deus. Amen." Now it is quite clear that the 
Thomas St. Nicholas, who died in 1474, married Julianna^ grand- 
daughter of Edmund Haute, and not Johanna his daughter. Yide 
her will in 1493. 



366 A COENEU OF KENT. 

One of these sons was named John, we may fairly 
assume after him; he heing himself baptized John, 
according to the prevalent fashion of the times, after 
his maternal grandfather, John de Goshall. The 
other, we have seen, was named Thomas, after his 
paternal grandfather. We will clear off the descent 
from this Thomas (the younger son, as we take it, of 
John and Bennet), first, as the line in which we are 
most interested descends from the elder, John. 

By Julian Manston his wife, who survived him, we 
find he left four sons : Boger, Thomas, Bichard, and 
John ; and perhaps one daughter, Eleanor,* married 
to ... . Aucher. Boger St. Nicholas, the eldest son, 
died in 1484, seized of the manor of Thorne, leaving 
an only daughter, named Elizabeth, married to John 
Dynely of Worcestershire. Thomas, second son, died 
1493. In his will he mentions Katharine, his wife, 
and Elizabeth his daughter. Of these we have no 
further knowledge, nor have we met with any mention 
of Bichard or of John, later than in the will of 
Julianna St. Nicholas, their mother, who appears to 
have died shortly after her son Thomas, her will being 
made 7th of July, eighth of Henry VII. (1493), and 

* In Add. MS. Brifc. Mus. No. 5,520, HeDry Aucher, son 
of Kobert Aucher, is set down as having married . . . . d. of 
John St. Nicholas, of Thanet, the brother of this Thomas. Thomas 
certainly does not call Eleanor his daughter in his will ; he simply 
names her " Eleanor Aucher." Nor does the pedigree give the 
Christian name of the wife of Henry Aucher, who may have married 
one of the two daughters of John St. Nicholas, mentioned in his will 
without their names. 



GENEALOGICAL AND HERALDIC NOTES. 367 

proved on the. 31st of January following, 1493-4. 
In that will she describes herself as late the wife of 
Thomas St. Nicholas, Esq. ; mentions her son, John 
St. Nicholas, but not E/ichard (who was probably 
dead), and Edmund Haute, her grandfather. She 
died seized of the Manors of Wormsell, Shelving, 
and Goshall ; and as we find that Henry, eldest 
son and successor of John Dynely of Charlton, about 
the latter end of the reign of Elizabeth, conveyed his 
right in Thome, Manston Court, Goshall, and Powcies, 
to Sir John Roper, afterwards Baron Teynham ; it is 
quite clear that Elizabeth, daughter of Eoger St. 
Nicholas, and mother of Henry Dynely, must have 
inherited nearly the whole property of Thomas, her 
grandfather, and therefore survived her uncle, John, 
and her cousin, Elizabeth.* 

With her, then, the name of St. Nicholas expired 
in this branch of the family. We now return to 
John, eldest son of John and Bennett St. Nicholas. 
He married Margaret, daughter and heir of Simon de 
Campania; inherited from his father the Manor of 
Bures or Bury in Essex, the old property of the 
Giffords, to which his grandfather. Sir Thomas, had 
been found heir; died in 1462, and was buried at 
Ash, in the Chapel of St. Thomas the Martyr. By 

* Dynely quarters St. Nicholas, bringing in, 1. Manston ; 2. Haute ; 
3. Shelving ; 4. Argent, a lion rampant gules crowned or, Thorne ; 5. 
a lion ramj^ant crowned, between three mullets (no colours) ; 6. Argent 
three leaves in bend proper, on a canton azure three crescents or, 
Grove.— Ped. Dynely, Add. MSS. Brit. Mus. 5,507, 



368 A CORNEE OF KENT. 

his will, dated ISth June, 1462, it appears he left 
four sons : Thomas, Eicliard, Eobert, and Eoger, all 
under age at that time ; and two daughters, un- 
married. His son Thomas was to have the Manor of 
Bury, CO. Essex ; B^ichard, certain lands in Ash and 
"Wingham; and Boger, those at Billericay. He 
mentions his sister Elizabeth, married to William 
Edwards, and Thomas his brother.* Of Bobert, the 
fourth son, we hear no more ; Boger, the third son, 
married Dorothy, daughter of Walter Boberts of 
Cranbrook (living 1522), t and widow of Simon 
Lynch, J 19 Henry VII., 1504 ; but we have no know- 
ledge of any issue. Bichard St. Nicholas appears as a 
witness to a charter, twenty-third Henry YII., 1508 ; 
but we cannot undertake to decide whether it was the 
second son of John of Ash, or his cousin Bichard, 
son of Thomas of Thorne. At all events, our inform- 
ation fails us as to any descent from the three 
younger brothers. The eldest, Thomas, married a 
daughter and co-heir of Apuldrefield,§ by whom he 

* Prerog. Office, Cant. 

t Will of her father, Walter, dated 11th September, and proved 
13th October, 1522.— MS. Coll. Arm. B. P. A. vi. p. 485. 

J This Simon Lynch would seem to be the eldest son of William 
Lynch, of Cranbrook, who names him in his will dated April 28, 1480. 
He has been confounded with another Simon who died in 1573, and 
whose widow, consequently, could never have been re-married to 
Eoger St. Nicholas. 

§ William de Apuldrefielrl, according to some pedigrees. We 
doubt, however, her being the daughter of William. In his will, 
proved April, 1487, he mentions his wife Mildred, and his brother 
Eichard^ and " remainder to Elyn Brayne and the heirs of her body ;" 



GENEALOGICAL AND HEUALDIC NOTES. 369 

had John, and certainly another son, named E^oger 
or Thomas. John, the eldest, afterwards knighted, 
is said to have married a daughter of Walter E-oberts 
of Cranbrook,* by whom he had an only daughter 
and heir, Anne, who married John Baker, Esq., of 
Norfolk, to whom she carried the manor of Bury. 
Of this latter fact and descent, the best collateral 
evidence exists in the coat of the Baker family, whose 
paternal arms are quartered with St. Nicholas, 
Thorne, GifFord of Bures, Lenham, Apuldrefield, 
Avranches and Champion or Campania, in perfect 
accordance with the descent aforesaid. 

We come now to the last hitch in this pedigree. 
We have ventured to state that Thomas St. Nicholas, 
who married the heir of Apuldrefield, had certainly 
a second son, named Boger or Thomas. Our only 
proof at present of this assertion, is in the arms borne 
by the descendants of this Boger, the earliest of his 
family, who appears in. the Visitations and Pedigrees 

but no daughter, unless Elyn was such, and who, in that case, was 
living as wife or widow of Braynein 1487. 

* Sister of Dorothy, who married his uncle, Roger. This appears 
rather unlikely. In the pedigrees of Roberts, two daughters of Walter, 

Mary and Dorothy, are set down as wives of " St. Nicholas," 

no Christian name or other indication being given us whereby 
they could be identified ; and Philipot names Roger as the husbaud, 
of Mary in his MS. marked Mascle, p. 39^ It is clear, how- 
ever, from her father's will, quoted above, that Dorothy was the 
wife oi Roger in 1522; and in the same document his daughter 
Mercy (not Mary) is also mentioned as the wife of a St. Nicholas 
then living, but, unfortunately, not identified by his baptismal 
appellation. 

2 B 



370 A CORNER OP KENT. 

in the College of Arms. He is there stated to have 
been the son of a Thomas St. Nicholas, to have married 
(circa 1530 ?) Jane, daughter of Vincent Engham of 
Sandwich, and to have had by her a son, Yincent, 
born in 1531, and who married Marion, daughter of 
Edward Brockhill of AUington, Esq., and widow of 
Sir Thomas Harfleet ; Vincent St. Nicholas died 20th 
of August, 1589, and was buried in Ash Church.* 
The arms of this Vincent and of all his immediate 
descendants, display the coat of St. Nicholas quarter- 
ing that of Apuldrefield. ( Vide engraving at the head 
of this chapter, copied from a Pedigree in the Coll. of 
Arms, Vincent 145, and our description of the brasses 
remaining on the grave-stones of the St. Nicholas 
family, in the north transept of Ash Church, p. 239.) 
Now, as Thomas St. Nicholas of Bury, Co. of Essex, 
the father of John St. Nicholas, whose heiress, Eliza- 
beth, conveyed that manor to Baker, is the only 
individual who, we find, married an heiress of the 
Apuldrefields ; it follows, as a matter of course, that 
Boger, the father of Vincent, must have been either 
a son or grandson of that Thomas ; and such dates as 
we can rely upon, induce us to think he was the 
latter. In St. Lawrance Church, Thanet, there is the 
grave-stone of a Thomas St. Nicholas, who married 
Joane or Jane Manston, and had issue Thomas St. 

* Marion Harfleet was his second wife. By his first, who does not 
appear in the Visitations, he had a daughter named Sylvester, whose 
second husband was Henry Harfleet the elder, of Hill's Court, Ash. 
Vide p. 342. 



GENEALOGICAL AND HERALDIC NOTES. 371 

Nicholas, who is buried in the same chapel. The 
date was gone in Weever's time ; but the Johanna, 
daughter of Eoger Manston, whom we believe to be 
the person above-named, died in 1499.* It does not 
absolutely follow, that because no other children are 
named but Thomas, buried beside her, that Joane 
St. Nicholas might not have had another son named 
E^oger (as usual, after his maternal grandfather), and 
the probabilities are in favour of this being the 
missing link in this line of the pedigree of St. 
Nicholas of Ash. 

Henceforv/ard the Visitations and the Registers are 
our safe guides. By Marion, his second wife, Vincent 
St. Nicholas had five sons and one daughter; John, 
baptized December 24th, 1565, died an infant; Thomas, 
baptized August 27, 1567; another John, baptized 
November 28th, 1568 ; Timothy, who died young ; and 
Samuel, who only lived a year. The daughter Mary, 
called Mercy in the monumental inscription, was their 
eldest child, being baptized March 25th, 1563-4, and 

* Peter le Neve, in Ms "Church Notes," 1603-1624, says, simply, 
" A. gravestone of Thomas Sainct Nicholas, who married Jane Manston. 
Had issue Thomas St. Nicholas, who is buried in the same chapel" 
(Add. MSS. Brit. Mus. No. 5,479) ; contradicting Weever, who calls 
her daughter of Edmund Haute, of Manston. 

We believe the Thomas who married Joan Manston to have been 
Thomas St. Nicholas, of Ore, near Feversham. In the church there, 
were the arms of Lenham, quartering St. Nicholas ; and in a window an 
armed figure, with a tabard of the same, kneeling. — (Philipot's Ch. 
Notes, Harleian MSS. No. 3,917, and Philipot P. d. 20. Coll. Arms.) 

2 B 2 



372 A CORNER OE KENT. 

married the Kev. Anthony Pield, Eector of Chillenden, 
Co. Kent.* Thomas, the second son, alone survived 
and preserved the name of St. Nicholas. He was 
twice married, and died in 1626. Ey his first wife, 
Dorothea, daughter of William Tilghman, who died in 
childbed, September 18th, 1605, he had Deborah, 
baptized August 20th, t 1598; Susan, | December 7th, 
1599; Dorothy, April 5th, 1601 ;§ Thomas, October 
3rd, 1602; John, March 25th, 1603-4; and Yincent, 
baptized two days after the death of his mother, 
September 20th, 1605, and who only survived her a 
few months, being buried March 1st in the following 
year. By his second wife, Elizabeth Woodward, he 
had three sons : Timothy, Samuel, and Thomas, 
and one daughter, Elizabeth, married to Edward 
Mills of Westbere.ll Thomas St. Nicholas of Ash, 
the eldest son by the first wife Dorothea Tilghman, 

* In the will of Marion St. Nicholas, of Chillenden, widow, dated 
23rd June, 1604, and proved 1st October following, she mentions 
"my daughter Brett." But there can be no doubt that Mary 
married Mr. Field, as we find her brother Thomas speaking of her as 
"My dear and loving sister, Mrs. Field— ^her reverend husband, 
Anthony Field. "—(Will of Thomas St. N., proved 1st Jan. 1626-7.) 

t Married Jan. 4=, 1617-18, to German Major. (Ash Eeg.) "My 
daughter, Deborah Major." — (Will of Thos. St. N. uf supra.) 

J He does not mention his daughter Susanna in his will ; she was 
probably, therefore, deceased. 

§ Married Oct. 3, 1622, Edward Pordage. (Ash Keg.) "My 
daughter Dorothy Pordage." — (Will of Thos. ut supra ) 

II Visitation, D. 18, p. 139, Coll. Arms. She was unmarried at 
the time of her father's death. "My youngest daughter, Elizabeth 
St. Nicholas."— (Will, icf supra.) 



GENEALOGICAL AND HERALDIC NOTES. 373 

also married two wives, and died in 1668. By his first, 
Susannah, daughter of William Copley, ofWadsworth, 
Co. York,* he had one son, Thomas, baptized Octo- 
ber 1st, 1637 ; and one daughter, Elizabeth, who mar- 
ried first, Wittingham Wood, Esq., and secondly, John 
Pratt, of Hinckley, Co. Leicester. Thomas, his son 

and heir, married Elizabeth, daughter of 

Plomley, who died 1671,t by whom he had issue Yin- 
cent and Thomas, and was living in 1668, when his 
name appears for the last time in the parish accounts 
for Hoden. Vincent left an only daughter and heir, 
named Grace. Of Thomas, baptized May 27th, 1667, 
the last of the St. Nicholases of Ash, we have found 
no further record. 

By his second wife, Elizabeth, daughter of Henry 
Croke, of Well Place, Co. Oxon,:j: to whom he was 
married at St. Dunstan's, London, Eebruary I7th, 



* Visitation, D. 18, p. 137, Coll. Arms. 

t Elizabeth, widow of Thomas St. Nicholas, buried at Ash, 
Dec. 3rd, 1671. 

X She was his kinswoman, the daughter of his great-aunt. "My 
aunt, Mrs. Bennett Croke, widow, the natural mother of the wife of 
my son, Thomas St. Nicholas." — Will of Thomas St. Nicholas the 
elder, before quoted. On a flat stone in the north aisle at Knoll, Co. 
Warwick, are the arms of St. Nicholas, quartering Apuldrefield ; and 
in addition to a long inscription in Latin, the following is round the 
borders of the stone : — ^" In this cabinet is layd up the body of Eliza- 
beth, late wife of Thomas St. Nicholas of Ash, in the County of Kent, 
Gent., daughter of Henry Crooke, of Well Place, in the County of 
Oxon, Esq., who lived as meet helper with her husband six 
years, and had issue by him four sons; deceased, March 9th, 1631. 
Mat. V. 17." 



374 A CORNER OF KENT. 

1624, Thomas St. Nicholas had issue four sons, as 
we learn from the monumental inscription in Dug- 
dale's Warwickshire, page 702 ; but their names are 
not mentioned, and we know nothing more about 
them. 

We must now return to John, the second son of 
Thomas and Dorothea. He also married twice. His 
first wife was Ethelreda, or Audrey, daughter of Basil 
Good, of Shilton, Co. Warwick, by whom he had three 
sons, Timothy, Vincent, and Thomas, and three 
daughters, Abigail, Marie, and Elizabeth. Of these 
only two survived, Timothy and Marie. Timothy 
married first Anne, daughter of Christopher Copley, 
of Wadsworth, Co. York, who died 1664, leaving 
one son, named Basil, who died without issue; 
secondly, Elizabeth More, of Linley, who died June 
10th, 1698.* 

Marie married first Captain Morick, and secondly, 
Henry Watts, an Independent minister, of Wedding- 
ton, Co. Warwick. 

Audrey St. Nicholas died November 11th, 1654, and 
her husband John married, secondly, the Lady Priscilla 
Grey, daughter of Anthony, Earl of Kent, who died 
1657, without issue, and survived her forty-one years, 
dying in 1698, at the advanced age of ninety-five. A 
long and elaborate biography of him will be found in 
Mr. Nichols's History of Leicestershire ; but it con- 

* Mon. In. ISTortli aisle, Monk's Kirby, in which Timothy is 
described as "an affable, grave, wise, and useful man in his 
generation." 



GENEALOGICAL AND HERALDIC NOTES. 375 

tains no interest to justify our even introducing an 
abridgement of it here.* 

Timothy, son of Marie St. Nicholas and Henry 
Watts, assumed the name of St. Nicholas in or before 
1724, in which year, as Steward to the Duke of Kent, 
he is styled Timothy St. Nicholas of Burbach, Esq. ; 
and the male line of the St. Nicholases of Ash 
seems to have been extinguished in the person of 
Thomas, younger son of Thomas St. Nicholas and 
Elizabeth Plomley before mentioned, but of whose 
death and burial we have found no record. 

LEVERICK. 

This ancient family has been the most neglected 
of any connected with the history of Sandwich and 
Ash. Although not utterly extinct before the com- 
mencement of the sixteenth century, and therefore 
within reach of the Visitations, not a scrap of pedigree 
is to be found in them, save and except the mention 
of a match with Monins of Waldershare ; and neither 
Vincent nor Philipot, Glover nor Brooke, has, either 
intentionally or accidentally, collected any genealo- 
gical information respecting it. 

* He was a Puritan minister and volunteer lecturer amongst 
tlie Independents ; was nominated to the Kectory of Lutterworth, by 
the Parliamentary Sequestrators, and ejected by the Bartholomew 
Act in 1662, when he retired to Burbach, where he lost his wife, 
the Lady Priscilla, and lived in retirement till his death. He was 
the author of the History of Baptism, 1678, and several other 
theological works. His father-in-law, Anthony Grey, was also an 
Independent Minister, Hector of Burbach j and on his succession to 
the Earldom, refused to quit his ministry. 



376 A CORNEE OF KENT. 

Mr. Boys, in his " Collections," while he professes 
himself disappointed at not being able to gather more 
particulars respecting the family of Sandwich, takes 
no heed of that of Leyerick ; and we have been left, 
therefore, to make the most we can of the few traces 
we have been able to discover of it in the Rolls and 
Charters of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. 
The origin of the name is left entirely to our imagin- 
ation. We naturally turn to the Saxon Leuric and 
Leofric, so many examples of which are to be found 
in the early annals of England, and some particularly 
connected with this corner of Kent ; but there is also 
in Domesday mention of a Loveraz existing at that 
period in "Wiltshire, and Sir Eichard Colt Hoare, in his 
elaborate History of that county, gives us a pedigree 
of a family of that name from William and Odo de 
Loveraz, temp. Henry II., to Stephen and his wife 
Alicia, 5th of Edward III., the descendants of whom 
appear to have spelt the name indifferently Loeras, 
Lueraz, Loverick, and Leverick. 

John Leverick, of Crockerton, Co. Wilts, was living 
30th of Edward IIL, and Alicia Leverick, daughter 
of William Levericke, of Shropham, Co. Norfolk, is 
mentioned in a Eoll of the time of Edward I. Love- 
ricks and Lavericks are also to be found in Southamp- 
tonshire, Dorsetshire, and even Cumberland. Whether 
the Lovericks and Levericks of Sandwich were a 
branch of the Wiltshire family, we cannot presume 
to say ; but, in an old MS. book of arms in the Heralds' 
College, we find those of Sir John Leverick of Carne, 



GENEALOGICAL AND HERALDIC NOTES. 877 

(Co. Dorset) — Argent, on a chevron sable; three 
leopards' heads, or ; which are identically the same as 
those borne by the Levericks in whom we are inter- 
ested. Still we cannot connect even this John of Carne 
in any other way with the Kentish line, or show that 
he was one of the Wiltshire family ; and we must 
for the present, therefore, rest content with pointing 
out the above facts to the reader. 

, The earliest mention we have found of a Loverick 
of Sandwich is in 1281, when a Salamon Loverick 
appears a witness to a charter. 

We next find a Henry Leverick and Margery his 
wife parties in a final concord with John de Goshall, 
respecting land in Ash near Sandwich, 34th of Edward 
I., A.D. 1306.* John Leverick was Mayor of Sand- 
wich 1346, 18th of Edward III. Thomas Loverick 
was Member of Parliament for Sandwich 43rd of 
Edward III., 1371, and 1st of Eichard IL, 1377.t 
Contemporary with him were Salomon Leverick (spelt 
Leverske in Lewis's "Thanet"), who with John Denis, 
Mayor of Sandwich, and others, was attached to answer 
to a plea of trespass, by Robert de Stokes, Sheriff 
of Kent, prosecutor for the King, and not having 
made a sufiicient defence, was committed to jail, 1369. 
And Sir John Leverick of Ash, who married Joan, 
daughter of John Septvans, and whose effigy, we 
believe, lies on the north side of the high chancel at 

* Lansdown MS. 268, p. 293. 

t See his deed of gift to Gilbert SeptvaDS in 1370, page 327. 



378 A COUNER OF KENT. 

Ash within the altar rails.* At all events, Sir John 
was living about this period. We have next a Thomas 
Leverick, Mayor of Sandwich 1412-1416, and contem- 
porary with him Sir William Leverick of Ash, hus- 
band of Emma, daughter of John Septvans of Ash, 
and who with his wife were buried in St. Mary's, 
Sandwich, to which they had been great benefactors, 
temp, Henry lY. ; and following them a Henry 
Leverick, M.P. for Sandwich, 7th Henry Y. 

Not one of the above can we venture to affiliate ! 

Not the least indication have we found of the affin- 
ity of any one of them to the other, and it is only 
some fifty or sixty years later that we arrive at any- 
thing resembling genealogical detail. From the will 
of Johanna Leverick, widow of William Manston, of 
the parish of Heme, proved in 1475, we gather that 
she had three brothers, Anthony, Henry, and Tliomas 
Leverick, but no hint of their parentage. She names 
'' John Loveryk," son of her brother Anthony, and 
Johanna, daughter of Henry, both living at that date, 
as also her own son, John Manston. Her brother 
Thomas proved her will, but of him we hear no more. 
Her brother Henry died in 1487, and by his will we 
learn that he was twice married. The first wife's 
name was Katharine, and the second, who survived 
him, Elizabeth. He names his daughter Susannah, 
then living a nun at Sheppey, but does not indicate of 
which wife she was the issue, nor does he mention 

* Vide page 206. 



GENEALOGICAL AND HERALDIC NOTES. 379 

the " Johanna, daughter of Henry," named in the will 
of his sister. Anthony Leverick of Heme, her 
elder (?) brother, married Constance, daughter of 

Woolbright, according to Philip ot ; but in 

the Pedigree of Monins set down as daughter and 
heir of Turberville. By her he had John, named 
above, who must have died unmarried or without issue, 
and Pernel, who, as daughter and heir of her father, 
became the wife of Edward Monins of Waldershare. 
Anthony Leverick died October 16th, 1510, and with 
his wife Constantia was buried at Heme, when the 
name appears to have been extinguished in this 
county. 

PARAMORE. 

Of this family no trace has yet been discovered 
earlier than the close of the fifteenth century. The 
name, spelt indifferently Paramore, Paramour, and 
Paramor, is so remarkable, that had any persons of 
consideration borne it in England previous to that 
period, it could scarcely, we think, have escaped notice. 
The early Kentish topographers and genealogists are 
perfectly silent as to its origin, and we are inclined to 
believe that the founder of the family in this country 
was some Erench or Italian merchant, who settled at 
Sandwich during the reign of Henry VII. Perhaps 
the very Thomas Paramore who heads the earliest 
pedigree in Philipot's MSS., and who is therein 
described as "of Paramore Streete in Ashe prope 
Sandwicum," and having by his wife, " Cecilia filia 
et heres Hambroke," two sons : William, who died 



380 A COENER OF KENT. 

without issue, and Henricus, married to Alice Fornell, 
and living lOtli of Henry YIII., 1525-6, as we have 
already stated, p. 141. This Henry had a son John, 
who, by Jane, daughter of Thomas Beake of Wickham 
Breaux, had issue Thomas Paramor of Pordwieh, 
Mayor of Canterbury, to whom a mural monument was 
erected in the Church of St. Mary, Minster, Isle of 
Thanet ; * and underneath the kneeling effigies of the 
mayor and his wife the following inscription : ^^ Neere 
to this place lie enterred the bodies of Thomas Para- 
more, Esq., sometime Mayor of the citie of Canterburie, 
and Anne his first wife, by whom he had issue three 
sons and two daughters, viz. : Michael and Thomas, 
who died in his lifetime,! and Henry surviving, who 
married Marie, the daughter and heir of Tho. Garth of 
London, Esq. ; Jane, wife to Henry Saunders of Can- 
terbury, Esq., and Bennet, married to Thom. Eoach 
of Wotton, Gent. His second wife was Marie, the 
widowe of Tho. Garth of London, Esq. ; he departed 
this life the vij of July, A.D. 1621, resigning his soule 
to God that gave it." 

* There are two coats of arms of Paramour : Paramour of St. 
Nicliolas, Thanet, bearing azure, a fess embattled between three 
etoiles, or, crest, a cubit arm, vested azure, cuffed argent j the hand 
proper, holding an etoile of six points wavy, or. — Granted by Cooke, 
Clarenceux, 1585 : and Paramour of Ash, a similar coat, the fess being 
counter-embattled, and for crest, two arms embowed similarly 
vested azure, cuffed argent, and supporting an etoile, or. — Granted 
by Camden, Clarenceux, May 1616. 

t Michael died " about the age of 9 years." Thomas married Ann, 
daughter of Henry Frankly n of Throwley, and died without issue, 
September 13th, 1615. (Mon. In. St. Magdalen's Church, Canterbury.) 



GENEALOGICAL AND HERALDIC NOTES. 381 

Under his effigy are the following verses : — 

Canterb. — Thanks, Isle of Thanet, for this Champion 
Ofs never dying name, my chiefe glorie ; 
His Trophie hath made me companion 
Unto the proudest by hisYictorie. 
Thanet. — Indeed thy countrie and unpeopled plaine, 
Unworthie were his wit and employment, 
And gladly do receive him home againe 
Kesting contented with his monument. 

We have transcribed these lines, certainly not for 
their beauty or their pathos, but because we believe 
that Canterbury, in thanking the Isle of Thanet for a 
champion, alludes to a singular trial by battle which 
was to come off in Tothill Pields, the 18th of June, 
1571, and is told at great length by the old chronicler 
Stow. The subject in dispute was a certain manor 
and demaine lands belonging thereunto, in the Isle of 
Harty, belonging to the Isle of Sheppey in Kent.* 

* The manor of Harty, otherwise Sayes Court, was held in the 
reign of Henry II L by the family of De Campania under John de 
St. John. John and Mary de Campania, temp. Edward III., left 
three daughters and co-heirs, one of whom, Thomasine, married 
Thomas Chevin of Sholand in Newnham. His descendant, John Chevin, 
3rd of Elizabeth, sold 'Hhe Mote," a parcel of this manor, to Mr. 
Paramour, by the description of a manor or messuage, 60 acres of 
land and 50 acres of marsh, with the appurtenances, in the parish of 
St. Thomas the Apostle, in the Isle of Harty, of the fee of William 
(Paulet), Marquis of Winchester (great grandson of John de St. John 
by Constance Poynings), capital lord of it ; but it being subsequently 
alleged by the said John Chevin that he was under age at the time 
of the above-mentioned alienation, and that he had passed it away 
again to John Kyme and Simon Low, they in the 13th year of the 
same reign brought out their writ of right. 



382 A CORNER OF KENT. 

Simon Low and John Kyme were plaintiffs, and had 
a writ of right against Thomas Paramore, who offered 
to defend his right by battle, a challenge which they 
accepted, and offered to prove by battle that Paramore 
had no right or title to the said manor and lands. 
Herenpon, says the chronicler, the said Thomas Para- 
more brought before the Judges of the Common 
Pleas at Westminster one George Thorne, a big, 
broad, strong-set fellow; and the plaintiffs brought 
Henry Nailor, master of defence and servant to the 
Earl of Leicester, a proper slender man, and not so 
tall as the other. Thorne cast down a gauntlet, which 
Nailor took up. On the Sunday before the battle 
was to take place, however, "the matter was stayed," 
and the parties agreed that Paramore, being in posses- 
sion, should have the land, being bound in £500 to 
consider the plaintiffs as, upon hearing the matter, the 
judges might award. The Queen's Majesty, we are told, 
was the taker up of the matter in this wise. It was 
thought good that, for Paramore' s assurance, the 
order should be kept touching the combat in every 
particular, except the combat itself 1 The lists were 
set out, double railed, a stage set up for the judges, 
and scaffolds erected one above the other, for people 
to stand and behold. Behind were two tents, one for 
Nailor, the other for Thorne. Thorne was there in 
the morning timely ; Naiior about seven of the clock 
came through London apparelled in a doublet and 
gallygascoine breeches, all of crimson satin, cut and 
raised, a hat of black velvet with a red feather and 



GENEALOGICAL AND HERALDIC NOTES. 383 

band, before him drums and fifes playing. The 
gauntlet that Thorne had cast down borne before the 
said JSTailor upon a sword's point, and his baston (a 
staff of an ell long, made taperwise, tipt with horn) 
with his shield of hard leather was borne after him by 
Askam, a yeoman of the Queen's guard. He was 
brought to his tent by Sir Jerome Bowes, Thorne 
being already in his with Sir Henry Cheney.* The 
Court of Common Pleas arrived at ten o'clock. The 
Lord Chief Justice and his two associates took their 
seats. Low was solemnly called to come in, or else 
to lose his writ of right, it having been previously 
arranged that he should make default. The cham- 
pions were next called for, and Sir Jerome Bowes 
led in Nailor by the hand, who ''curtseyed" to 
the judges first with one leg and then with the 
other, and went through the farce of stripping for 
the combat, pulling off his nether stocks (stock- 
ings) and appearing bare-foot and bare-legged, save 
his silk scavilonions (drawers) to the ancles, and 
his doublet sleeves tied up above the elbow, and 
bareheaded. Sir Henry Cheney next led in George 
Thorne in like manner. Proclamation w^as made by 
the Justices in the Queen's name that no person of 
what estate or condition he be, should be so hardy 
as to give any token or sign, by word or look, to 
either prover or defender, that might give one the 

* Henry, Lord Cheney, at that time was lord of the manor of 
Harty, and with the consent of Jane his wife sold it subsequently 
to Kichard Thornhill and Walston Dixie, Esqs. 



384 A COENER OF KENT. 

advantage over the other, or suffer either of them to 
take and avail themselves of any of their weapons, 
&c., under pain of forfeiture of lands, tenements, 
goods, chattels, and imprisonment of their bodies, and 
making fine and ransom at the Queen's pleasure. 
The prover was then sworn in form as foUoweth : 
" Hear you Justices, that I have this day neither eat, 
drunk, nor have upon me either bone, stone, or glass, 
or any enchantment, sorcery, or witchcraft, where 
through the power of the Word of God might be 
inleased or diminished, and the Devil's power 
increased, and that my appeal is true, so help me God 
and his saints, and by this book." The solemn 
mockery was then terminated by the Lord Chief 
Justice rehearsing the matter in dispute, and the 
proceedings taken upon it, and adjudging the land to 
Paramore for default of appearance in Low, dismissing 
the champions, and acquitting the sureties of their 
bonds. Upon being desired to return Thorne his 
gauntlet, Nailor answered that his lordship might 
command him in anything, but that he would not 
willingly render the gauntlet unless Thorne would 
win it, and challenged him to play with him half a score 
blows, to show some pastime to the Lord Chief Jus- 
tice and the others there assembled; but Thorne 
replied that he came to fight and not to play. Then the 
Lord Chief Justice, commending Nailor for his valiant 
courage, commanded them both quietly to depart the 
field — no doubt to the bitter disappointment of the 
good citizens of London there assembled to the num- 



GENEALOGICAL AND HERALDIC NOTES. 385 

ber of 4,000, who it is to be supposed were not in 
the secret of this child-like make-believe exhibition. 
If we are correct in identifying the defendant in this 
case with the champion "whose never-dying name 
was the chief glory" o'f Canterbury, we must say 
that old Durovernum was not difficult to please in 
those days, if the victory of a challenger who did not 
even fight by proxy was considered an achievement to 
be proud of. 

A John Paramor of the parish of St. James, Isle 
of Harty^ yeoman, in his will, proved June 15th, 1585, 
names his uncle Thomas Paramor, but does not 
enable us to connect him with the mayor. He seems, 
however, to have lived on the disputed estate, and 
left a wife named Agnes, and a daughter Alice. 

The mayor had a brother Henry, who died before 
him, and bequeathed to him Shreeves Court. 

Henry, the only surviving son of Thomas of Pord- 
wich, died in 1646, leaving by his wife, Mary Garth, a 
son Thomas, who died 1652. A branch of the original 
stock, however, remained and flourished at Ash, in 
the street to which they had given their name. The 
will of Thomas Paramore, of Ash, yeoman, was proved 
March 9th, 1559-60, in which he mentions his sons 
Symon, Raymond, John, Henry, and Thomas, Hobert 
Paramore of Worde, and his messuage at Paramore 
Street in Ash. 

This Thomas Paramore is called cousin by Thomas 
Harfleet, alias At-Chequer, in 1555 ; but his exact 
place in the pedigree has not been ascertained. His 

2 c 



386 A CORNER OP KENT. 

son Henry, we presume, is the Henry Paramore of 
Ash, whose will was proved 25th May, 1600; in 
which he mentions his wife Joan, and a sister married 
to Edward Purday. Thomas Paramor of Ash, pro- 
bably his younger brother, was overseer of the will 
of Stephen Petley of Dover, 2nd March, 1594. It is 
this Thomas Paramor, most probably, whose name we 
find so often in the earliest parish accounts, from 1600 
to 1608 ; in which latter year, he was churchwarden. 
At the same time, the Parish Cess-Books make 
mention of a E/ichard and a Bartholomew Paramore, 
and a John Paramore of Worde; the latter, ap- 
parently, one of the six sons of B;obert Paramor of 
Worde and Wilmot his wife, named in his will, 
proved May 19th, 1579 ; the other five being 
Stephen, William, Thomas, Nicholas and E/ichard. 
Bartholomew appears to have been a son of Saphir 
Paramore of Eastry and Stattenboro'. Bartholomew's 
eldest son was named Peter. Thomas Paramor, the 
churchwarden, died in January, 1609-10, and his 
son Joshua, in 1635. His burial is the last but three 
of the family of Paramour entered in the registers at 
Ash. They appear about this date to have died out 
here, some of them having fallen into poverty, and 
being in the receipt of parish relief. The heirs female 
of the Stattenboro' and Eastry branches carried the 
property into the families of Sanders, Dilmot, Puller, 
Boys of Sandwich, and Boteler of Eastry. 



GENEALOGICAL AND HERALDIC NOTES. 387 

The following are all the entries of this family to 
be found in the registers at Ash : — 



BAPTISMS. 

John, son of Edward Paramore, 18th July, 1575. 
Timothy, son of Edward Paramore, 15th October, 

1577. 
Angelica, daughter of John Paramore, 23rd August, 

1579. 
Kichard, son of Edward Paramore, 12th January, 

1579-80. 
Margaret, daughter of John Paramore, Eebruary 

1580-81. 
Jane, daughter of Henry Paramore, April, 1581. 
Edward, son of Edward Paramore, 6th January, 

1582-3. 
Margaret, daughter of Edward Paramore, 8th August, 

1585. 
Mary, daughter of Edward Paramore, 10th August, 

1589. 
John, son of Henry Paramor, 5th October, 1596. 
Henry, son of Thomas Paramour, 27th August, 1597. 
Edward, son of Henry Paramor, 3rd March, 1598-9. 
Joshua, son of Thomas Paramour, 1st December, 1603. 
Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas Paramor, 5th April, 

1607. 
John, son of Henry Paramour, 11th August, 1622. 
Edward, son of Henry Paramour, 21st August, 1625. 
Henry, son of Henry Paramour, 16th March, 1627-8. 

2 c 2 



388 A CORNER OE KENT. 

Elizabeth, daughter of Henry Paramour, 11th May, 

1629. 
John, son of Edward Paramour, 28th June, 1629. 
Steven, son of Edward Paramour, 11th Eebruary, 

1632-3. 
Mary, daughter of Edward and Anne Paramor, 23rd 

December, 1634. 
Anne, daughter of Edward and Anne Paramour, 21 

Eebruary, 1640-1. 

MARRIAGES. 

John Proud and Alice Paramore, 18th October, 1561. 
Edward Paramore and Jone Hole, 26th November, 

1565. 
John Paramore and Mary Hole, 13th October, 1578. 
Thomas Paramore and Ann Huffam, 24th January, 

1582-3. 
John Wayman and Sarah Paramor, 16th October, 

1598. 
Richard Paramor and Eve Stonard, 20th April, 1607. 
Nicholas Essex and Eve Paramor, widow, 7th April, 

1608. 
Henry Paramor and Elizabeth Bax, 25th June, 1621.* 



* June 24tli, 1646, a Thomas Pa/rimore of Shoreditch, was married 
to Mary Adams of St. George's, Southwark, at St. Lawrence Pount- 
neys, London. This solitary entry, which was accidentally met with 
by a friend, and kindly handed to us, might be of some importance to 
a pedigree of the family, and we therefore record it, although there 
is nothing to show a connexion with the Paramours of Ash. 



GENEALOGICAL AND HERALDIC NOTES. 389 

George Gainsford and Mary Paramour, 25th June, 

1676. 
Henry Paramor of Minster in Thanet, and Sarah 

Haslett, 30th January, 1807. 
William Farmour batchelor, and Martha Hills, 23rd 

October, 1830. 

BURIALS. 

Infant daughter of John Paramor, 4th May, ) -. k^o 
Mary, wife of John Paramor, 6th May, J 

Mary, daughter of Edward Paramor, 7th May, 1586. 
Henry Paramor, householder, I7th April, 1600. 
John, son of Henry Paramor, 27th November, 

1601. 
Richard Paramour, householder, 1st November, 1607. 
Henry, son of Edward Paramour, 5th May, 1609. 
Thomas Paramour, householder, 1st February, 

1609-10. 
Mary, wife of Henry Paramour Esq., 26th Eebruary, 

1617-18. 
Henry, son of Henry Paramour, 21st June, 1628. 
Stephen, son of Edward Paramour, 18th November, 

1633. 
Joshua Parramor, 25th Eebruary, 1634-5. 
Ann, daughter of Edward Paramour, 23rd October, 

1635. 
A male infant of Edward and Ann Paramour, 10th 

Eebruary, 1637-8. 
Elizabeth Paramor, 30th August, 1638. 



390 A CORNER or KENT. 

We will add to these extracts the following entries 
of admittances to Gray's Inn : — 
1601. Thomas Paramore, son of Henry Paramore of 

the Isle of Thanet. 
1617. Henry Paramore, late of Staple Inn, son 

and heir of Thomas Paramore of Pordigay 

« 

(Pordwich ?), co. Kent, Esq. 
1620. Thomas Paramore, second son of K^ichard 

Paramore of Shankton, co. Leicester, Esq. 
1635. Thomas Paramore, son and heir app. of Thomas 

Paramore of the Isle of Thanet, Esq. 

HOUGHAM. 

This is another Kentish family of great antiquity, 
large possessions, and important connexions, which 
has been totally neglected by the genealogists. 
Prom the arms borne by the most ancient branch, it 
is supposed that the Houghams, who derive their 
name from a manor so called, near Dover, as we have 
already stated in our second chapter, were a branch 
of the family of Avranches or Everinge. We have 
therein mentioned five Roberts de Hougham, who, 
from the time of Richard I., succeeded each other in 
regular rotation to the eleventh of Edward III., when 
the manor of Hougham went to the family of Yaloins 
by the marriage of one of the daughters and co-heirs 
of the fifth Robert to Waretius de Yaloins. The 
father of this Robert, who died twenty-ninth Ed- 
ward I., and left a widow named Alicia, is said to have 



aENEALOGICAL AND HEKALDIC NOTES. 391 

had a younger brother named E;ichard5 from whom 
descended the Houghams of Ash. We have not been 
fortunate enough to find a trace of this Richard, but 
in the MS. we have so often quoted, marked E.. 27, 
in the College of Arms, there are abstracts of several 
charters, unfortunately not dated, but apparently of 
the thirteenth century, in which we find a Radulphus 
de Hugham, who had a son Osbert married to a lady 
named Pelicia, and that to this Osbert William de 
Lenham, by consent of his wife Cecilia, granted all 
the lands he had in marriage with her and of her 
inheritance; this deed of gift being witnessed by 
Robert and Alexander de Hugham, Philip, Walter 
and Peter, sons of Beatrice de Hugham, and Ralph, 
the son of Matthew de Hugham. This, we presume, 
was in the time of Edward II., as in the fourteenth 
of that king's reign we have a charter of Beatrice de 
Hougham, at that period the widow of Baldwin de 
Hougham, whom we therefore take to be the father 
of her children, Philip, Walter, and Peter ; and the 
same document informs us that she was the daughter 
of Robert de Chillenden. In another charter we find 
Thomas, son of Henry de Hougham ; but no Richard 
in any. Nevertheless, a Richard de Hugham was 
Prior of Dover, A.D. 1350, and a scrap of a 
pedigree is headed with '* Simon de Hougham 
filius Richardi," followed by '' Robertus de Hougham 
filius Simonis," with the information, " Obiit in Ash." 
His son Robert is described as of Elmstone, and father 
of William de Hougham, to whom a wife is given named 



392 A CORNER OF KENT. 

Elizabeth, their son being Solomon de Hougham,* 
" whose figure," we are told, " stood in Ash church 
windows;" no doubt that of the kneeling warrior 
described at page 189, on whose tabard are arms 
differing only in colour from the other arms of 
Hougham, said to have been assumed from the family 
of Sanders of Norborne.t If there be any foundation 
for this assertion, it is very probable, from the special 
mention of Elizabeth as his mother, that she was 
an heiress of the family entitled to this coat. The 
descent from Solomon is a little clearer. He had 
two brothers, Thomas and Stephen (and perhaps a 
third, John Hougham, buried December 16, 1559), 
and a daughter not named, the wife of John Brooke 
(*' son of John"), by whom she had a son also named 

* A Solomon de Hougham died seized of Maplescombe, Co. Kent, 
2nd of King Edward III. There were also two other Solomons, son 
and grandson of John Hougham of St. Martin's, Canterbury, by Joan 
his wife ; as we find by the will of said John, dated May 4th, and 
proved July 2nd, 1482 : his son Solomon being then dead, and his 
grandson apparently a minor. He bequeaths all his lands and tene- 
ments in Ash to Joan his wife, for life ; remainder to Solomon, son of 
Solomon Hougham, his late son, deceased, when he shall arrive at the 
age of 30 years, in-tail, &c. He names Dionisia his daughter, late wife 
of John Bishop, taillour, and also Jovina, his daughter, late wife of 
John Bishop, of St. Paul's, aforesaid ! Also his own sisters, Isabella 
and Margaret. The will of his widow Joan is dated May 8, 1503. 

t In the Visitation of Kent, 1619, C. 16, Coll. Arms, these arms 
are or, on a chevron between three elephants' heads gules, three 
mullets argent. The drawing in le Neve's notes gives the field 
argent, and the charges sable, which may be an error of the 
copyist. The crest in the Visitation is that of Brooke of Brooke 
Street, the arms of Brooke being in the second and third quarters. 



GENEALOGICAL AND HERALDIC NOTES. 393 

John, who died without issue, by his wife, Magdalen 
Stothard, 1582-3 (will proved Pebruary 7th). Of 
Thomas we know no more; but Stephen married 
Bennetta, daughter of John Brooke, the elder, and 
heir to her brother, it is said, on the death of her 
nephew. The property, however, could only have 
come to her heirs, as she herself died nearly two-and- 
twenty years before her nephew. 

"Bennet Huffam" was buried June 9th, 1560, 
according to the registers at Ash, and by her will, 
proved October 14th following, as '' Benedict HuflPam 
of Ashe, widow," she desires to be buried near her 
husband (who was dead in March, 1556), and names 
Michael and E^ichard, her sons, Joan, Margaret, and 
Elizabeth, her daughter's children, and Bennett, the 
daughter of Michael Huffam. John Brooke, the 
nephew, did not die till January 16th, 1582-3, and 
by his will, proved February 7th following, wills cer- 
tain lands, part of the manor of Nevil's Pleet, to John, 
son of Bichard Huffam, his godson, and his heirs male. 
Bennett's brother, John Brooke, was living in 1555, 
as he is named in the will of Stephen Hougham, dated 
November 20th in that year. Stephen names therein 
also his " wife Benet," his brother Thomas Hougham, 
Michael Hougham his son, and Stephen Solly, his 
daughter Elizabeth, wife of Stephen Solly, son of 
Stephen Solly the elder, and her daughters, Margaret, 
Elizabeth, and Joan, whom we have seen mentioned 
in their grandmother's will. Michael, his eldest son, 
married Edith, daughter of Austin of Addisham, and 



394 A CORNER or KENT. 

Bicliard, his other son, Joan Foad. Michael of Ash 
left three sons, Michael, Stephen, and E;ichard,* and 
three daughters : Anne, married to Thomas Paramore 
of Pordwich, Bennett, who married Thomas Country, 

and , married to Bateman.f He died in 

1583. His brother Bichard of Eastry had, by Joan 
his wife, five sons, Thomas, Vincent, John, George, 
and Stephen, and two daughters, Susan and Bennet, 
who both died unmarried. 

Michael, eldest surviving son of Michael of Ash, 
married, first, Elizabeth Joade, October 11th, 1578, by 
whom he had three sons, Thomas, Henry, and Bich- 
ard, and one daughter, Elizabeth ; and secondly, Jane 
Brook, by whom he had a son named Brook, baptized 
January 25th, 1596. 

Bichard, second son of Michael of Ash, had Wed- 
dington, and married Elizabeth, daughter of Edward 
Sanders of Norborne, who survived him and married 
Thomas Hawkes. Bichard died in 1606 (buried at 



* Will proved December lOth, 1583. 

t From a pedigree in one of Hasted's collections (Brit. Mus., Add. 
MSS., 5,520), we find that William, eldest son of Michael and Margaret 
Courthope, had by his wife, Susanna, daughter of John Clarke, 
fifteen children, eight sons and seven daughters; and that of the 
former, only one left issue. This was Francis Hougham, the "Citizen 
and Painter-Stainer," whose memorandum appears at page 102. He 
was twice married, and had issue by both wives. Gervase, whom in 
1717 he names his heir, was his only child by his first wife, Mary, 
daughter and heir of Gervase Plumbe, Gent,, and was born June 13th, 
1708. Nathaniel, the only surviving son by his second wife, was 
living in 1722. 



GENEALOGICAL AND HERALDIC NOTES. 395 

Ash October Sth), and left three sons : first, 
Michael, baptized June 6th, 1596, who married 
Margaret Courthope, from whom the Houghams we 
have enumerated in the last note, page 394 ; second, 
Edward, baptized May 25th, 1598, who, by Margaret 
his wife, left a daughter Anne, married to John Bet- 
tenham ; and third, Solomon, baptized January 1st, 
1599-1600, who, by his wife Mary, left three sons : 
first, Solomon, a merchant in London, and who, hav- 
ing purchased the manor of Langport, alias Barton, 
at Canterbury, resided there, and was Sheriff of 
Kent in 1696 ; second, Richard of Sandwich, dead in 
1662, and Henry, who left issue three sons, Solomon, 
John, and Charles ; the two first died without issue, 
and Charles became heir to his brother Solomon, who 
had inherited Langport from his uncle the Sheriff, in 
1697. Charles had a son Henry, who married Sarah, 
daughter of William Hunt, and died 1726, leaving a 
son William, who married Margaret Hannah Boberta, 
daughter and one of the heirs of John Corbett, Esq., 
Co. Salop, by whom he had a son William, born in 
1752, who married the daughter of Charles Bobinson, 
Esq., Barrister at Law, Becorder of Canterbury, and 
brother of Matthew, first Lord Bokeby. Eor the 
collateral branches we must refer the reader to 
the information we have been able to gather from 
the registers of Ash, the parish in which we are 
alone interested. The name of Hougham is still 
extant there and in the neighbourhood, but it seems 
to have died out of the parish during the seventeenth 



396 A CORNER OE KENT. 

century.* Stephen, brother of Eichard of Wedding- 
ton, who married Joan, daughter of Thomas Beke, 
and was overseer of Ash in 1605, and whose daughter 
Bennet was the second wife of Henry Harfleet, 
and Thomas Huffam, churchwarden in 1609, being 
apparently the last of the name who held any 
position here. 

The entries of the family of Hougham in the 
registers of Ash are as follow : — 

BAPTISMS. 

George Huffam, 6th March, 1558-9. 
Elizabeth Huffame, 3rd September, 1560. 
Stephen Huffame, 11th April, 1561. 

(Page cut from July to January, 1561-2; and 
from 26th October to 16th April, 1563.) 
Susan, daughter of Richard Hougham, 10th October, 

1563. 
Anne, daughter of Michael Hougham, 28th January, 

1564-5. 
Vincent, son of Richard Huffam, 26th July, 1566. 
Michael, son of Michael Huffam, 28th October, 1569. 
Richard, son of Michael Huffam, 4th June, 1574. 
Stephen, son of Michael Huffam, 22nd June, 1577. 
Thomas, son of Michael Huffam, 17th July, 1579. 
Magdalen, daughter of Vincent Huffam, 3rd October, 

1591. 

* No marriage of a Hougham is registered at Ash, between 1 655 
and 1763, but one baptism during the last century, and no burial 
between 1660 and 1824. 



GENEALOGICAL AND HERALDIC NOTES. 397 

Brooke, son of Michael Huffam, 25th January, 1595-6. 

Michael, son of Richard Huffam, 6th June, 1596. 

Edward, son of Eichard Huffam, 25th May, 1598. 

Margaret, daughter of Stephen Huffam, 5th Septem- 
ber, 1599. 

Solomon, son of Richard Huffam, 1st January, 1599- 
1600. 

John, son of Stephen Huffam, 5th October, 1600. 

Judith, daughter of Stephen Huffam, 1st November, 
1601. 

Elizabeth, daughter of Stephen Huffam, 17th June, 
1604. 

Bennett, daughter of Stephen Huffam, 8th October, 
1605. 

Mildred, daughter of Thomas Huffam, 6th December, 
1607. 

Samuel, son of Thomas Huffam, 6th May, 1610. 

Edward, son of Solomon Huffam, 17th November, 
1626. 

Anne, daughter of Solomon Huffam, 17th November, 
1626. 

John, son of George and Martha Huffam, 2nd Febru- 
ary, 1607-8. 

(No entries from 1641 to 1654.) 

Martha, daughter of John and Martha Huffam, 8th 
May, 1654. 

Sarah, daughter of Henry and Elizabeth Hougham, 
5th April, 1750. 

Susannah, daughter of Henry and Elizabeth 
Hougham, 14th July, 1751. 



398 A CORNER OF KENT. 

Henry, son of Henry and Elizabeth Hougham, 8th 

October, 1752. 
Edward, son of Henry and Elizabeth Hougham, 12th 

March, 1754. 
Alice, daughter of Henry and Elizabeth Hougham, 

7th May, 1758. 
Edward, son of Edward and Sarah Hougham, 10th 

November, 1765. 
Sarah, daughter of Edward and Sarah Hougham, 1st 

March, 1767. 
Harriet, daughter of John and Margaret Hougham^ 

labourer, of Westmarsh, 9th October, 1814. 
George, son of John and Margaret Hougham, 10th 

November, 1816. 
Alice, daughter of John and Margaret Hougham. 
Michael, son of John and Margaret Hougham, 1821. 

MARRIAGES. 

Hichard Huffam and Jane Eord, November 27th, 

1558. 
Thomas Country and Bennett Huffam, July 16th, 

1575. 
Thomas Paramore and Anne Huffam, January 24th, 

1582-3. 
Vincent Huffam and Elizabeth Pynnocke, January 

1st, 1590-1. 
Thomas Browning and Margaret Huffam, October 

28th, 1624. 
Henry Harflete and Bennett Huffam, March 26th, 

1629. 



GENEALOGICAL AND HERALDIC NOTES. 399 

Edward Hougham, widower, and Sarah Chandler, 
December 7th, 1763. 

Anna Hongham and John Capell, March 6th, 1774. 

William Hougham, son of John Hougham, gardener, 
and Esther Carpenter, December 2nd, 1839. 

Ann Hougham, daughter of John Hougham, labourer 
of Ash, and John Greggs, April 10th, 1841. 

Alice Hougham, daughter of John Hougham, 
labourer of Ash, and John Wall, widower, Novem- 
ber 22nd, 1845. 

Harriet Hougham, daughter of John Hougham, 
farmer of Ash, and Thomas Upton of Eastry, No- 
vember 11th, 1848. 

BUHIALS. 

Bennet Huffam, June 9th, 1560. 

Infant daughter of Michael Huffam, December 15th, 

1580. 
Michael Huffam, householder, July 12th, 1596. 
John, son of Stephen Huffam, October 11th, 1600. 
Mary, daughter of Stephen Huffam of Sandwich, 

June 21st, 1604. 
Ideth (Edith) daughter of Stephen Huffam, Oct. 9, 

1604. 
Edward, son of Thomas Huffam, December 18th, 

1619. 
Joane, wife of Stephen Huffam, Eebruary 15th, 

1632-3. 
John, son of George Huffam, Eebruary 6th, 1637-8. 

(No entries from 1641 to 1656.) 
Stephen Hougham of Ash, aged 9, September, 1835. 



400 A CORNER OF KENT. 

Edward Hougham of New Street, aged 30, September 

8th, 1854. 
George Hougham of Cooper Street, Ash, aged 16, 

February 19th, 1857. 

We add the following entries from other sources, 
as partially supplying the gap between the sixteenth 
and eighteenth centuries : — 

WiNGHAM EeGISTERS. 
BAPTISM. 

Elizabeth, daughter of Stephen and Elizabeth Huffam, 
December 8th, 1662. 

BURIALS.* 

Stephen Huffam, tailor, 1691. 

Stephen Huffam, son of Richard and Anne, 1695. 

E;ichard Huffam, tailor, 1697. 

Elizabeth Huffam, widow, same year. 

TeNTERDEN EEaiSTERS. 

Thomas Hougham and Mary Jenkin, married Decem- 
ber 28th, 1595. 

Add. MSS. Brit. Mus. 5,507. 
marriages. 
Bennett, daughter of Stephen Hougham of Ash, 
gentleman, aged 22, and Henry Forstall, Mayor 
of Sandwich, 162f . 

* "Michael Hougham, ob*. 1679, get. 61." Anne Hougham, 
daughter of Edmund Joy, ob*. 1677, set. 55. Mon. In. Preston 
Church. In Tenterden churchyard is a tombstone to the memory of 
Henry Hougham, and Joan, his wife, by whom he had fourteen 
children. He died September 8th, 1818, aged 75; he was therefore 
born in 1743. 



GENEALOGICAL AND HERALDIC NOTES. 401 

Stephen Hougham of Ash, gentleman, aged 21, vivo 
patre, and Elizabeth, daughter of Henry Light- 
foot of Canterbury, deceased, aged 18, 1629. 

Edward Huffam of Stourmouth, gentleman, widower, 
married Mary, daughter of Richard Laming of 
Preston, deceased, 1631. 

Bennett, daughter of Thomas Huffam of Dover, 
gentleman, aged 18, married Thomas Dedes of 
Dover, maltster, aged 20. 

Thomas HufiPam of Ash, husbandman, aged 24, 
married Susan, relict of Stephen Browne of Ash, 
1634. 

Stephen Hougham and Elizabeth Selden, 1650. 

Solomon Hougham of Norborne, gentleman, aged 20, 
and Sarah Beke (or Beale), gentlewoman, aged 21. 

Susan Hougham and Andrew Honess, 1653. 

Sibel Hougham and William Lucket, 1656. 

Henry Hougham and Elizabeth Morris, 1681. 

Alice Hougham and Anthony Bayner, 1682. 

SOLLY. 

This ancient family, of which so many descendants 
are resident in the parish at the present day, is pre- 
sumed to have taken its name from the manor of 
Soles, in the neighbouring parish of Nonnington, in 
Wingham hundred, part of the possessions in 1080 
of Odo, Bishop of Baieux. A John de Soles was in 
possession of it in the reign of Edward I.^ and his 
descendant, another John, died, seized of it in 1376. 
It was alienated in 1400 or 1401. 

2 D 



402 A CORNER OF KENT. 

Without affirming or contradicting this statement, 
with which we have been favoured by the direct 
representative of the Pedding branch of the family, 
there is the fact that a John Solly is entered in the 
register of the Abbey of St. Augustine, as holding 
the manor of Linucre or Linacre Court of tlie Abbot, 
by Knight's service, in the 49th year of Edward III., 
1377. We have been unable to connect this John 
Solly with any of the family of De Soles,* or to 
discover any intermediate male descendant between 
him and the Stephen Solly who married a daughter of 
Harfleet, and was settled at Pedding in 1509 ; but 
in the Ash registers we found the following entry 
amongst the burials during March, 1586 : — " Sexborow 
Solly, wyd : buryed, being an hundred years owld, 
xxvj^^." She was, therefore, born in 1486, would 
have been 23 in 1509, and possibly the wife of Stephen 
Solly above mentioned. The name, which appears 
singular enough in the corrupt orthography of the 
register, is correctly Sexburgha, being that of a 
celebrated Abbess of Minster, and appears to have 
been a favourite one in the sixteenth century. A 
" Sixborrowe Sollye " preceded her venerable name- 
sake to the grave, being buried April 24th, 1573, and 

* Richard Sawlew is a witness to a grant of land from William 
Sanders, of the parish of Ash next Sandwich, son and heir of William 
Sanders of Minster, to John Bennett of Ash, aforesaid, dated Septem- 
ber 17th, in the 19th year of the reign of Richard 11. (A.D. 1398).— 
(Philipot MS., No. 23, Coll. Arm., p. 103.) The absence of the " de " 
before the name of the. oldest Solly, identified as one of the family, iR 
not to be overlooked. 



GENEALOGICAL AND HERALDIC NOTES. 403 

another ''Sixborrowe Sollye, widow," followed her 
January 6th, 1591-2. 

Unfortunately, the earliest registers rarely afford 
us any information beyond the name and date of 
burial or baptism, and identification is therefore 
little assisted by them. No mention is made of whom 
the first of these Sexburghas was the widow, or the 
second, the daughter,* nor do we find the name any- 
where in the Harfleet Pedigree. We must therefore 
confine ourselves to the observation of the facts, and 
leave the conclusions to be drawn by the reader. We 
find no entry of the burial of Stephen Solly, ''the 
elder," as he is called in the will of Stephen Huffam, 
dated November 2nd, 1555, unless he was the 
" Stephen, son of William Sollye," buried March 4th, 
1561-2. He had, however, a son Stephen, who 
married Elizabeth, daughter of Stephen Hougham 
aforesaid, and had a son John, who died at Podding 
in 1624, leaving three sons, John, Stephen, and 
Richard. The latter was of Pleet in Ash, and married 
Elizabeth, daughter of Daniel Pryor of Ash. He 
died March 18th, 1652, and left four sons ; the eldest, 
Richard, married Mary, daughter of John Proude, of 

* The other widow, we presume, was the wife of a William Solly, 
as the first entry of a marriage is that of " William Sollye and 

Sexborowe " (no maiden name mentioned !), November 

24th, 1558 ; and a " William Sollye" was buried March 5th, 1570-71; 
and another ^'William Sollye, householder," January 2nd, 1591-2, only 
four days before " Sixborrowe." The latter was most probably her 
husband, but there is no deciding from any evidence we have hitherto 
inspected. 

2 D 2 



404 A CORNER OF KENT. 

the Moat in Ash, and died at the Moat, October 22nd, 
1683, aged 50. His eldest son John married twice, 
and by his second wife Anne, sister to Sir Henry 
Purnesse, had a son E^ichard, who married Anne, 
daughter of John HoUis, by whom he had five sons : 
first, John, who died unmarried, 1750 ; second, Isaac, 
who married Ann, daughter of Nathaniel Neale, and 
had twelve children; third, Richard, who died un- 
married, 1743 ; fourth, Edward, who died unmarried, 
1792; and fifth, Samuel, who married, 1776, Sarah, 
daughter of Dr. Horsman, and died 1805, leaving 
two sons, Eichard Horsman Solly, who died 1858, 
and Samuel E/cynolds Solly, of Manchester Square, 
London, E.R.S. and E.S.A., the present owner of 
the Moat. 

Of the collateral descendants (whose name is legion) 
we can trace no other line with any confidence to 
the Sollys now living in the parish. Mr. George 
Solly of E/ichborough is probably the representative 
of one. {Vide page 139.) Some branches of the 
family had fallen into poverty early in the sixteenth 
century. We find ''John SoUye, a poor house- 
holder," buried January 7th, 1594-5 ; '' Matthew 
Sollye, a servant," buried May 18th, 1606 ; and 
*' Priscilla Solly, servant to Mrs. Solly of Podding," 
buried September 22nd, 1666 ; and the name, like 
those of Paramore and Hougham, is still found 
amongst the labouring classes and in the humbler 
ranks of the community. But " apprenticeship doth 



GENEALOGICAL AND HERALDIC NOTES. 405 

not extinguish gentry," and the poorest and lowliest 
members of these ancient English families may have 
the barren satisfaction of writing the proud motto of 
" Euimus " under the escutcheon they have inherited 
from ancestors who owned the broad acres they now 
till, in the times of the Plantagenets and the Tudors. 
Apropos of escutcheon, the arms attributed to the 
Sollys of Sandwich by Mr. Hasted (vol. iii. p. 670, 
note) are vert a chevron per pale or and gules, between 
3 soles naiant, argent. In vol. iv. p. 24, note, he 
confounds them with those of the family of Sole of 
Bobbing; Argent, a chevron saUe between 3 soles 
haurient, proper within a bordure engrailed of the 
second : but the fact is, that no arms for the family 
of Solly of Kent are recorded in the Heralds' College ; 
neither does any pedigree of Solly appear in the 
Visitations of that county. There was, however, a 
family of the name of Solley existing in Worcester- 
shire as early as the^ reign of Henry IV., and their 
pedigree from Thomas Solley living in the thirteenth 
year of that reign (A.D. 1412) down to Humfrey 
Solley, in 1683, is to be found in the Visitations, 
C. 30 and K. 4, Coll. Arms. The coat accompanying 
it is a chevron between 3 fish (not soles) naiant ; no 
colours marked, which would indicate absence of 
proof of their authenticity. There is, however, much 
more probability that these SoUeys were collaterals 
of the Sollys of Kent than that the latter are descended 
from the De Soles. 



406 A COENER OF KENT. 

Of the family of Solly the entries of baptisms at 
Ash alone amount to 292, of marriages to 104, and 
of burials to 176, exceeding those of any other in 
the register, except, perhaps, that of Lacy. 



POSTSCRIPT. 



TTTHILE awaiting the completion of the illustra- 
^ * tions promised to our subscribers (the illness 
of the artist originally employed having delayed the 
publication of this volume considerably beyond the 
period we had contemplated), the works in progress 
at Ash and accidental circumstances have enabled 
us to add a few notes of some importance by way 
of postscript. 

In the first place, there has been discovered under 
the flooring of the pews in the South Transept a 
piece of carved oak which evidently formed part of 
the family seat of the Septvans in Ash Church, as on 
one side of it appears a shield of arms, on which are 
the well-known fans or wheat-screens as represented 
on the brasses in the Holland Chancel, and on the 
other an elaborately carved letter S of very graceful 
design. {Vide Plate VII. fi^. 7.) 

Secondly, in one of the unindexed MSS. in 
Philipot's Collection, Coll. of Arms, we have lighted 
upon a pedigree of the family of St. Nicholas, illus- 
trated by coats of arms, &c., and attached to it are 
some rude pen-and-ink drawings of figures formerly 



408 A CORNER OF KENT. 

in the windows of the churches at Ore and Ash. 
Two of these, stated to have heen " in Ecclesia de 
Ash jnxta Sandwicum," are kneeling figures of a 
man and woman, the former in armour, with a tabard 
displaying the arms of St. Nicholas ; and the latter 
in kirtle and mantle, on which appear the arms 
of Campania. Underneath them is written '' Orate 
pro animabus Johannis Seynnicholas et Margaretse 
uxoris suae. 8 filiorum et septem filiar." This is a 
curious piece of genealogical information, as we have 
only the knowledge from his will of four sons and 
two daughters, all under age, at the date of its 
execution in June, 1462. As he died the same year, 
he must have lost nine children in infancy previous 
to that period. As these figures do not occur 
amongst the drawings of Peter le Neve in 1610, we 
must conclude that the glass on which they were 
painted had been destroyed before his time. The 
particular window is not specified by Philipot ; but it 
was probably that of the South Transept, wherein 
all the family lie bm^ied. We give the figures, in 
addition to the four drawn in Peter le Neve's Church 
Notes, on Plate XIII. page 254. 

Thirdly, on a more minute examination of the lid 
of the stone coffin recently dug up in the South 
Transept, our artist has discovered faint traces of the 
ornamental portion of the cross proper, and has 
indicated its probable original form by dotted lines 
on Plate YII. fig. 6, page 204. 

Pourthly, w^e have found amongst the old grants 



POSTSCRIPT. 409 

by J. DaltoD, Norroy King of Arms, that on the 
11th of May, 1560 (2nd of Queen Elizabeth), there 
was one of a crest to " Edward Singleton of 
Broughton Tower, in the Countie of Lancaster, 

Gentleman," which is blazoned as '' an arme 

armed at all pieces, the hand, charnell {i. e,, flesh- 
colour, or proper), holding a horseman's staff, gold, 
the hede sylver." We have no doubt, therefore, that 
the gravestone described by us at page 234 is that 
of Dr. Singleton of Molland, whose epitaph was 
preserved by Mr. Eaussett in his Church Notes 
{vide page 236) ; but though the coat is described by 
him correctly, he does not mention the crest, and 
the only one appearing exactly to correspond with 
it which we could discover was that of Gimber, 
for the sculptor of the gravestone has embowed 
the arm the reverse way, which, according to the 
rules of Heraldry, makes altogether another crest of 
it, and would still cause us to hesitate had we not 
proof of the burial of Mr. Thomas Singleton in this 
chancel in 1710, coupled with the statement that he 
was '' descended from the ancient family of the 
Singletons of Broughton Tower, in Lancashire." 
This fact '* dissolves our mystery," as Mrs. Malaprop 
would say, for it was certainly difficult to comprehend 
how such a stone could have escaped the notice both 
of Mr. Eaussett and Mr. Cozens. 

"We had indulged a faint hope that we should have 
been able^ by the assistance of Mr. Ashpitel, to have 
thrown some new light upon the remarkable deflec- 



410 A CORNER OF KENT. 

tion of the High Chancel. We have mentioned at 
page 177, on the authority of Mr. Eoherts, one 
theory propounded by Eeclesiologists ; bnt there is 
another less fanciful which has also its supporters. 
The laying of the foundation of a church, or any 
particular portion of it, was generally preceded by a 
nocturnal service on the eve of the day of the saint to 
whom it was to be dedicated ; and as previously to the 
invention of the mariner's compass the only mode of 
ascertaining the east was by observing the rising of 
the sun, this was done on the following morning by 
" the watchers of the matins," and the orientation 
of the building depended upon their report to the 
architects, who set out the new work accordingly. 
Granting this to be fact, it follows as a matter of 
course that when the body of the church was 
dedicated to one saint and the chancel to another, 
there would be a sensible deviation from the right 
line in the orientation of the two portions of the 
edifice. Now, the Church of Ash is dedicated to 
St. Nicholas, while the High Chancel is expressly 
described as that of Our Lady, and an opportunity 
was therefore afforded us to test the value of this 
theory. The result of our observations were, how- 
ever, singularly contrary to our expectations, — the 
nave of the church being in a direct line towards the 
point at which the sun would rise on the 2nd of 
February, the day of the Purification (one of three 
great days appropriated to the Virgin), and the chan- 
cel diverging towards the point of sunrise on the 6th 



POSTSCRIPT. 411 

of December, St. Nicholas' Day — the exact reverse 
of the proposition ! 

The question may arise, has there been any re- 
dedication ? Was the old Norman church, originally 
dedicated to St. Nicholas, and the short nave then 
existing in a direct line with the chancel, or was 
there an earlier edifice raised in honour of the Virgin, 
and a new Church of St. Nicholas constructed nearly 
upon the same foundation in the 12th century ? 
The nave has evidently been lengthened westward 
during the first half of the 13th century, and pre- 
viously to the period when it was made a parish 
church and appropriated to the College of Wingham 
by Archbishop Peckham, whose family, from the 
exact similarity of their coat armour, is supposed to 
be identical with that of St. Nicholas of Ash and 
Thanet. I cannot do better than conclude this 
postscript by transcribing some general observations 
on the church, which have been kindly contri- 
buted by Mr. Ashpitel, in further illustration of 
the plan, Plate Y., for which we are also indebted 
to him : — 

'' An examination was made of the south wall of 
the nave (see Plan A, B), where there are evidently 
the remains of two arches, leading either into a 
side chapel, or more probably what was once a 
south aisle. 

'' A cursory view shows they are supported by a 
column at C, but on cutting into the wall at b, it 
was clear there was a half-column attached to a pier. 



412 A CORNEE OP KENT. 

or, as it is technically called, a respond, and not 
another column. It was then suggested that the 
original church might have only extended as far as 
the dotted lines d, e, and that it was probably (for 
the arches now built into the wall are pointed) 
the work of the Anglo-Norman period, circa 1160 — 
1180, and consisted of a short nave (as shown by the 
dotted lines) and two aisles; and, as was usual at 
the time, there was also, in all likelihood, a small 
chancel, with an octagonal or circular apsis, under 
where the central tower now stands. If this were 
the case, the ragstone column aty, and the respond 
at g, may be original ; and the upper abacus, like that 
at e, has been superimposed at the time of the 
erection of the new Early English arches, for this 
is of Caen stone, like that at e, while the rest of the 
columns, capital, and base are of rag. 

" This yiew is further strengthened by the section 
of the capitals e and/, and still more so by those of 
the bases ^ and /, the latter of which is in all proba- 
bility half a century later than the first. 

" About fifty years after this date, in the palmy days 
of the Early English style, 1220 to 1240, the nave 
seems to have been lengthened westward, and the 
chancel built as we now see it. The transepts also 
must have been erected about that time; and, as 
previously stated, it would appear, from the extra 
thickness of the walls at the north-west end of the 
building (see letter E), there must have been a tower 
at that spot. This idea has been corroborated by 



POSTSCRIPT. 413 

the finding the cill of a small oylet, or arrow-slit 
window, close under the present eaves, which could 
only have been made for the first floor, or ringing- 
loft, of a tower. That the Holland Chancel or St. 
Nicholas Chapel was then built, or shortly afterwards, 
is probable, as the remains of a foundation were 
discovered a short time ago, northward of the present 
wall, A, i. This part of the building, as it exists at 
present, was probably erected at the same time with 
the central towers." 



THE END. 



cox AND WYMAN, PRINTEES, GREAT QUEEN STREET, LONDON. 



3W^ 



^ -• 



^ 



"y^r>^^yr\/r 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS g^l 

019 828 907 3 



Ji 



